The Formation, development and curation of the Tapling Collection at the British Museum Library in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

• In 1891 Thomas Keay Tapling bequeathed his near complete, worldwide collection of stamps and postal stationery to the British Museum Library. To celebrate the 130th anniversary of this event which created the British Library's Philatelic Collections, this article provides an overview of the Tapling Collection's formation, development and early curation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.