David Louis Lidman (July 11, 1905 – September 18, 1982) was an American writer of

philatelic literature Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history. Background to philatelic literature Philatelic literature is held by stamp collectors and dealers, philatelic soci ...

in journals, books and newspapers.

Philatelic literature

Lidman wrote a number of books on stamp collecting, among them ''The New York Times Guide to Collecting Stamps'' (published in 1970), ''Treasury of Stamps: 1200 Rare and Beautiful Stamps in Color'' (published in 1975) and ''The World of Stamps and Collecting'', which he co-authored with John Apfelbaum in 1981. He also wrote other books, including ''Philately Below Zero, A Postal History of Alaska'' (in 1958) and ''The First Day Cover Collector's Handbook'' (in 1976). Lidman contributed philatelic articles to the '' Chicago Sun'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He edited ''Chambers Stamps Journal'', ''Philately'', ''Essay-Proof Journal'',

The American Philatelist ''The American Philatelist'', published by the American Philatelic Society, is one of the world's oldest philatelic magazines still in operation; its first issue having appeared in January 1887. The magazine is published monthly for members of th ...

, ''The Congress Books'', ''1851 Centennial Book'', ''U.S. Perforation Centennial Book'', and other stamp publications.

Philatelic activity

David Louis Lidman was active in philatelic societies. He was one of the founders of the APS Writers Unit 30 and was named its first president. At the

American Philatelic Society The American Philatelic Society (APS) is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation of philately in the world. Both the membership and interests of the society are worldwide. History The organization, originally named the ''American Phil ...

(APS) he served as vice president. He also served as president of the Board of Trustees of the American Philatelic Research Library.

Honors and awards

Lidman won numerous honors. He received the first Newbury Award in 1945 and in 1946 received the

Luff Award The Luff Award is awarded by the American Philatelic Society (commonly known as the APS) for meritorious contributions to philately by living philatelists. Established The award was established in 1940 in memory of John N. Luff, distinguished ...

. In 1981 he was elected to the Writers Hall of Fame. And, in 1971, he was presented the APS Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to the society. Lidman was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1983.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lidman, David Louis Philatelic literature American philatelists Writers from Chicago Writers from New York City 1905 births 1982 deaths American Philatelic Society