Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
256 pages, profusely illustrated on glossy paper, published by Hermes House, the book arm of Lorenz Books, an imprint of Anness Publishing Ltd. of Leicestershire in 2011. Remaindered and a bit shop-soiled (top left) but all the same...
But is it all it claims to be? After all, as the fly-leaf says, "Dr James Mackay is one of the world's most popular and prolific authors on stamps and stamp-collecting." Well, not quite. In 2011 the good doctor was dead, to begin with, and had been for four years. Perhaps, then, it was one of his many other publications, though when a book is re-published under a different title it is usual to say so, and maybe even refer to the fact that the author is deceased.
Mackay was indeed a prolific author on philately and other subjects, who led something of a charmed life. If his detractors have not got at his Wikipedia entry, it seems he was also a convicted stamp thief, who while assistant keeper at the British Museum nicked five Crown Agent proofs and used them to exchange for (of all things) some Winston Churchill topicals. He avoided prison and was fined a thousand pounds in 1972 money, which I reckon is worth 25 times as much today. He lost his job, naturally, but knew so much about stamps and postmarks that the philatelic world was evidently prepared to forgive and forget.
Mackay was up to his tricks again a couple of decades later, when he wrote two (non-philatelic) books soon discovered to have been copied in large part from existing (and Pulitzer Prize-winning) titles: in the first instance he settled out of court, and in the second the original author was dead and no-one seemed to mind all that much. Why, Glasgow University even made him a D.Litt.
Dr Mackay, whose articles I remember reading in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, died in 2007, having evidently convinced the philatelic world that his expertise was, on the whole, rather more important than wee matters of theft and plagiarism. So, who knows which of his (his?) works has been re-packaged by Hermes/Lorenz/Anness and delivered posthumously to, as it turned out, a not-so-eager public?
It's a pretty book, with 20 stamps illustrated on every page, and a doubtless authoritative text, but it seems curiously appropriate that Mackay's name was put to a book of unexplained provenance by a publisher who wanted us to think the canny Scot was still very much alive. Even though I'm not quite the beginner at whom the book is presumably aimed, I think it was £1.99 (about three dollars) well, if strangely, spent.
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I have seen that book many times, Guthrum, in stores as a new issue and in second-hand shops as used.
It usually sells for around $15 U.S.new and varies a lot at used prices.
Also saw it in a discount book shop in Grand Rapids, MI.
Seemed a bit interesting, but could never quite bring myself to spend the money on it; maybe if I come across it very reasonably priced, I might pick it up just for curiosity's sake. 
Thank you for the review and the research!
Randy
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09:13:15pm
Here is one for $1.00 plus $2.49 shipping to USA addresses, on
Abebooks.com
I have bought bargain books through Abebooks many times. Always been happy.
Roy
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10:53:01am
While, an expansion of the preceding comments, I suppose topically it brings our/my thoughts somewhat afield, so feel free to just skip over hat follows.
The charmed legal life of the knowledgeable Dr MacKay is, in my mind, an example of the proceeds of modern society's selective morality.
That is judging an activity by whether it involves a friend, an acquaintance or, someone distant and unknown, combined with whether we agree or disagree with the consequences. We see it here in the Colonies all the time, frequently in partisan political circumstances. But it is an ever more popular way of dealing with hard facts. It even has a name and place among the long list of known fallacious arguments, "argumentum ad consequentiam". In Mackay's situation an action is moral or legally excusable depending on how much the observer approves or disapproves of the result.
I suppose selective morality and its first cousin selective memory have always existed, but I notice it much more now than I ever did before.
I'd not have brought this up but for the fact that my younger son has gotten to a class in logic and ethics at the University of Houston and we were bouncing these concepts around last week. I'll send him a note later showing how Dr. Mackay's acceptance by the philatelic community, post multiple convictions is, or was, until his passing, an ongoing example of one such fallacy.
A valued ongoing Father's Day gift is that my children still, and often do, open such discussions of interesting concepts with me.
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It's a pleasant little volume which I picked up today for £1.99 at the remainder shop:
256 pages, profusely illustrated on glossy paper, published by Hermes House, the book arm of Lorenz Books, an imprint of Anness Publishing Ltd. of Leicestershire in 2011. Remaindered and a bit shop-soiled (top left) but all the same...
But is it all it claims to be? After all, as the fly-leaf says, "Dr James Mackay is one of the world's most popular and prolific authors on stamps and stamp-collecting." Well, not quite. In 2011 the good doctor was dead, to begin with, and had been for four years. Perhaps, then, it was one of his many other publications, though when a book is re-published under a different title it is usual to say so, and maybe even refer to the fact that the author is deceased.
Mackay was indeed a prolific author on philately and other subjects, who led something of a charmed life. If his detractors have not got at his Wikipedia entry, it seems he was also a convicted stamp thief, who while assistant keeper at the British Museum nicked five Crown Agent proofs and used them to exchange for (of all things) some Winston Churchill topicals. He avoided prison and was fined a thousand pounds in 1972 money, which I reckon is worth 25 times as much today. He lost his job, naturally, but knew so much about stamps and postmarks that the philatelic world was evidently prepared to forgive and forget.
Mackay was up to his tricks again a couple of decades later, when he wrote two (non-philatelic) books soon discovered to have been copied in large part from existing (and Pulitzer Prize-winning) titles: in the first instance he settled out of court, and in the second the original author was dead and no-one seemed to mind all that much. Why, Glasgow University even made him a D.Litt.
Dr Mackay, whose articles I remember reading in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, died in 2007, having evidently convinced the philatelic world that his expertise was, on the whole, rather more important than wee matters of theft and plagiarism. So, who knows which of his (his?) works has been re-packaged by Hermes/Lorenz/Anness and delivered posthumously to, as it turned out, a not-so-eager public?
It's a pretty book, with 20 stamps illustrated on every page, and a doubtless authoritative text, but it seems curiously appropriate that Mackay's name was put to a book of unexplained provenance by a publisher who wanted us to think the canny Scot was still very much alive. Even though I'm not quite the beginner at whom the book is presumably aimed, I think it was £1.99 (about three dollars) well, if strangely, spent.
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re: Now Here's a Thing...
I have seen that book many times, Guthrum, in stores as a new issue and in second-hand shops as used.
It usually sells for around $15 U.S.new and varies a lot at used prices.
Also saw it in a discount book shop in Grand Rapids, MI.
Seemed a bit interesting, but could never quite bring myself to spend the money on it; maybe if I come across it very reasonably priced, I might pick it up just for curiosity's sake.
Thank you for the review and the research!
Randy
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this post
BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 300 categories
21 Jun 2015
09:13:15pm
re: Now Here's a Thing...
Here is one for $1.00 plus $2.49 shipping to USA addresses, on
Abebooks.com
I have bought bargain books through Abebooks many times. Always been happy.
Roy
Login to Like
this post
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
22 Jun 2015
10:53:01am
re: Now Here's a Thing...
While, an expansion of the preceding comments, I suppose topically it brings our/my thoughts somewhat afield, so feel free to just skip over hat follows.
The charmed legal life of the knowledgeable Dr MacKay is, in my mind, an example of the proceeds of modern society's selective morality.
That is judging an activity by whether it involves a friend, an acquaintance or, someone distant and unknown, combined with whether we agree or disagree with the consequences. We see it here in the Colonies all the time, frequently in partisan political circumstances. But it is an ever more popular way of dealing with hard facts. It even has a name and place among the long list of known fallacious arguments, "argumentum ad consequentiam". In Mackay's situation an action is moral or legally excusable depending on how much the observer approves or disapproves of the result.
I suppose selective morality and its first cousin selective memory have always existed, but I notice it much more now than I ever did before.
I'd not have brought this up but for the fact that my younger son has gotten to a class in logic and ethics at the University of Houston and we were bouncing these concepts around last week. I'll send him a note later showing how Dr. Mackay's acceptance by the philatelic community, post multiple convictions is, or was, until his passing, an ongoing example of one such fallacy.
A valued ongoing Father's Day gift is that my children still, and often do, open such discussions of interesting concepts with me.
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