The following, told by Mr. Thomas Kitt, in The Philatelist of January 1867, is the story of the first English philatelic journal:

“Towards the middle of the year 1862, when Philately was becoming very popular, appearances led me to conclude that a periodical entirely devoted to that subject would prove a great boon to collectors, and also a lucrative investment to its proprietors.

Accordingly, in the summer of the year named, I inserted an advertisement in the Boys Own Magazine, requesting any gentlemen who were of similar opinion to join me in the undertaking. The advertisement was productive of innumerable replies, requesting further information but so many as half a dozen of them spoke favourably of my scheme. In order to ‘leave not a stone unturned’ for the attainment of the end in view, I had personal interviews with many of the leading English collectors living in or near London, and in consequence of its being the ‘Exhibition year,’ I was enabled to meet several from the country; but ‘public opinion’ seemed so much against me that I reluctantly abandoned the enterprise, thinking it folly to undertake what my superiors in the knowledge of Philately thought so unpromising.

My voluminous correspondence on the subject and endeavours to bring about the consummation of my wishes were, however, rewarded with success, for Mr. A. Perris of Liverpool (one of the few gentlemen who thought favourably of my plans) entered warmly into the matter; but from the reasons above stated, I declined rendering him any pecuniary assistance, although I placed my pen at his service, of which he availed himself.

However ‘finis coronat opus,’ on 15th December,1862, the harbinger of a new style of literature made its appearance in the shape of the Monthly Advertiser, afterwards known as the Stamp Collectors’ Review. This publication, after having proved of great service to philatelists, and as an investment tolerably successful, died out in 1864, the last summer having been issued on the 15th June of that year.

Such is the history of the first philatelic periodical published in England, and of which I must, with pride, claim to be the primary originator”.