By Frederick Murray Fiske

This is a blog about stamp collecting, written for a general audience.

It will be profusely illustrated, with blowups of stamps that are beautiful, revealing, sometimes downright puzzling. There will riveting text, informative captions, entertaining notes and comment by yours truly, FMF.

The extensive and varied commentaries that follow are inspired by FMF’s vast stamp collection. Bonus features stray over a wide range of short subjects, narratives, analyses and adventure yarns relating to the hobby of philately — with gorgeous pictures.

The FMF Stamp Project was launched in November 2015, with limited distribution — and an enthusiastic reception. The blog launch date: December 2016.

My purpose is to revive, sustain and promote interest in stamp-collecting. The way to do this, I believe, is to share my stories about philately — personal highs and lows,  lines of inquiry and natural curiosity, stirring tales from history, amusing or downright odd anecdotes, and large digital images of stamps from my collection and elsewhere. The available tools for undertaking this project have never been better or more convenient — the Internet and digital technology bring the whole world within reach and make research and production a pleasure.

In short, It is high time to launch this project sharing the stories and reflections accumulated during a half-century-plus love affair with philately. Paging through my albums, I find a tale on nearly every page. This is going to be fun, and it will take a while. Happily, there is time, plenty of space, and the stories go on and on. Let’s get started!