Bertram William Henry Poole (March 22, 1880 – September 8, 1957) was an American student of

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...

, and wrote numerous

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

s on various aspects of the hobby. He was well known as a respected philatelist in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

before emigrating to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

shortly before 1913.

British philatelist

Poole was editor of the ''West End Philatelist'' and ''The Philatelic Journal of Great Britain''. He wrote extensively on

British Colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

in all seven of the ''West End Philatelist Handbooks''. He also wrote numerous articles on

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

American philatelist

Poole wrote a number of monographs on

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an and British colonial postage stamps which were published in ''Mekeels Handbook'' between 1912 and 1923. He contributed numerous articles to other philatelic journals and authored the books: ''The Standard Philatelic Dictionary'' in 1922 and ''The Pioneer Stamps of the British Empire'' in 1957. He also published his own ''Philatelic Opinion'' journal from 1912 to 1931. And, in 1917 he co-authored ''United States Virgin Islands'' with

Julius (John) Murray Bartels J. Murray Bartels (born Julius Murray Bartels; July 15, 1871 – October 5, 1944) was a New York City-based dealer and auctioneer of rare postage stamps. He was also well known for his knowledge of United States postal stationery. Family Barth ...

Collecting interests

Poole had a broad depth of collecting interests, but tended to specialize in stamps of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. He was active in philatelic societies and was appointed judge at the 1913 International Philatelic Exhibition in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Poole also was a

stamp dealer A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collect ...

and auctioneer.

Honors and awards

Poole, as one of the original signers, signed the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...

in 1921. He was named to the

American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame The American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame award honors deceased philatelists who have contributed significantly to the field of national and/or international philately. History The APS ''Hall of Fame'' award was founded at the 1940 American P ...

in 1993.

Selected publications

*''Sarawak: A Complete History of its Postage Stamps''. London: D. Field, 1906. *''The Stamps of Cook Islands''. Boston: Mekeel-Severn-Wylie, 1912. (Mekeels Handbook #1)

References

Bertram William Henry Poole

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Bertram William Henry 1880 births 1957 deaths British emigrants to the United States Philatelic literature American philatelists American stamp dealers People from Los Angeles Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists American Philatelic Society