Edward Loines Pemberton (10 December 1844 – 12 December 1878)Who Was Who in British Philately

Association of British Philatelic Societies The Association of British Philatelic Societies, commonly known as the ''ABPS'', is the British national association of philatelic societies, regional philatelic federations, and specialist philatelic societies.stamp dealer who was a leading advocate of the ''scientific'' (or ''French'') school 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 a founding member of ''The Philatelic Society, London'', now The Royal Philatelic Society London. Pemberton was entered on 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 as one of the fathers of philately.Edward Loines Pemberton.
American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame. Retrieved 23 January 2019. He was born in New York City but educated in Britain by relatives when his parents died shortly after his birth. His son,

Percival Loines Pemberton Percival Loines Pemberton (4 May 1875 – 11 June 1949),"Obituary Percival Loines Pemberton" by H.R.H. in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. LVIII, No. 681, August 1949, p.122. was a British philatelist and stamp dealer who signed the Roll of Disti ...

(1875-1949) was also an eminent philatelist.

Scientific philately

In the 1860s Pemberton advocated the study of all aspects of stamp production including

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

, printing and perforation. This was known as the ''scientific'' or ''French'' school. By contrast, the ''English'' school advocated that only the actual printed design mattered and that every other aspect of a stamp should be ignored. Some ''English'' collectors even advocated cutting the perforations from stamps before mounting so that there was no difference between a perforated and imperforate stamp in the album. At the time, the matter of how exactly to collect stamps had not been settled and the triumph of scientific philately over the simpler ''English'' methods lead directly to the sophisticated philatelic methods used today. Pemberton's 1867 ''Catalogue of the Very Fine and Very Complete Collection of Postage Stamps Selected with Great Care by E.L. Pemberton, Esq. Of Birmingham'' exemplified this approach.

Forgeries

As an advocate of scientific collecting, it was natural that Pemberton would take a keen interest in forgeries and be well equipped to distinguish the fake from the real. In 1863 he wrote, with Thornton Lewes, ''Forged Stamps: How to Detect Them'' and with W. Dudley Atlee he started ''The Spud Papers'', a series of regular articles about forgeries that was continued by the Reverend R.B. Earée after Pemberton's death. In 1872, when

John Walter Scott John Walter Scott (November 2, 1845 – January 4, 1919) of New York City, was originally from England, but he emigrated to the United States to take part in the California Gold Rush. Unsuccessful at the prospecting trade, Scott began to sell p ...

held the first stamp auction in Europe, Pemberton provided one of the first expert reports on the genuineness of two 20 cent St. Louis Postmaster Provisional stamps which were considered by many to be forgeries.

Philatelic journalism

Pemberton was an active contributor to many philatelic journals, including '' The Stamp-Collector's Magazine'' and ''The Philatelist''. He was editor of '' The Stamp-Collector's Review and Monthly Advertiser'' from January 1864. In 1872 he started ''The Philatelical Journal'', dedicated to advanced philately, which was the house organ of his stamp dealing firm ''James R. Grant and Co''. ''

The Philatelic Record ''The Philatelic Record'' was an important early Philatelic literature, philatelic magazine published in 36 volumes between February 1879 and 1914. It was originally published by Percival Loines Pemberton, Pemberton, Wilson and Company of London ...

'', edited by

Maitland Burnett Maitland James Burnett (1844 – 15 September 1918)"In Memoriam. Maitland Burnett J.P." by E.D. Bacon in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. XXVII, No. 322, October 1918, pp. 235-236.Adelaide Fenton recorded that William Dudley Atlee was Pemberton's clerk. de Worms, Percy. ''The Royal Philatelic Society London 1869 - April 10th - 1919''. Bath: 1919, p.18. In 1871 Pemberton formed the stamp company ''James R. Grant and Co.'' After his death his business was taken over by A.H. Wilson, and continued under the name of ''Pemberton, Wilson & Co.'' It was eventually acquired by

Theodor Buhl Theodor August Buhl (baptised August Theodor Buhl; 16 May 1865 – 11 October 1922)"Occasional Notes" in '' The London Philatelist'', Vol. XXXI, No. 370, October 1922, p. 260. was a British stamp dealer in London who published ''Stamp News'', whi ...

.Who Was Who in British Philately
Association of British Philatelic Societies, 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.

Publications

*''Forged stamps: how to detect them, containing accurate descriptions of all forged stamps''. Edinburgh: 1863. (With Thornton Lewes) *''Catalogue of the Very Fine and Very Complete Collection of Postage Stamps Selected with Great Care by E.L. Pemberton, Esq. Of Birmingham''. Hartlepool: James J. Woods, 1867. *''The Spud Papers''. In various journals 1871-1881. *''The Philatelical Catalogue: Being a Complete Catalogue of Postage Stamps, and Postal Envelopes and Cards with Voluminous Notes on Reprints, Forgeries, and Every Subject of Interest (containing upwards of 1100 heliotype illustrations)''. Dawlish: 1874. *''The Stamp Collectors' Handbook''. Southampton, 1874. (2nd edition 1878)

References

External links

The Spud Papers online.
An online repository of the Spud Papers describing the forgeries made by Spiro. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, Edward Loines British philatelists 1844 births 1878 deaths British stamp dealers People from New York (state) Fathers of philately American Philatelic Society 19th-century British businesspeople