Philat. Trans. 605
Franz-Karl Lindner
“Who’s Who in Philately” A new edition on the Internet
[“Wer ist Wer in der Philatelie?” – Eine neuauflage im internet]
AIJP-Bulletin, 2008, Whole number 127, pp.108-109
Translation produced for Brian J. Birch
33 Boar’s Head Avenue, Standish, Wigan, WN6 0BH, UK
December 2008
"WHO’S WHO IN PHILATELY"
A NEW EDITION ON THE INTERNET
Many people know of the first edition of Wer ist Wer in der Philatelie produced in 1999 after
many years of preliminary work, edited and published by Wolfgang Maassen. The book
contains 240 pages, on which there are 1078 encyclopaedia-like short biographies of mostly
well known philatelists from early on until to date. There is now a second edition by
Wolfgang Maassen revised and greatly increased, which provides the work-in-progress to
2004/2005, though only on the internet on the BDPh web site. The exact address is:
http://www.bdph.de/index.php?id==455.
This second edition contains nearly three times as many philatelists’ portraits as the first one,
and it also includes many previously-published biographies which have been expanded. For
example under letter E you will find five times as many biographies than before. New
inclusions include mainly international philatelists, especially Austrian and Swiss, and also
German expertisers and counterfeiters; as well as dealers and collectors from the German
Democratic Republic. Nevertheless, there is no end in sight: the author is already working on
the third edition, which is going to, again, double its total scope.
It took two years to create the programming for these internet pages and to bring about the
necessary agreements between the persons involved, while at the same time transcribing the
data files singly and piece by piece into the data bank. These texts are now all contained in it.
In the next few months additional pictures, an abbreviation list and general literature index
will be added. But the data bank is already fully operational.
Each reader can now print portraits and send them per mail to third parties. He can even send
changes, corrections and additions to the author. Also, of course, he can in this manner
register totally new people for consideration. The internet guarantees short, quick and almost
free-of-charge paths.
Let us be permitted a peek into the future: If you page through many of the biographies, you
will realise that there is ample need for completion. Some occupy only a “space”, in which
case even the author himself notes that an entry is still in the works.
The introduction points out, that the author will have to list in his third edition all sources
obtained and used. This is an enormous undertaking of course. That is why the third edition
will be continued by the author letter by letter, which will give the work-in-progress-date of
2010 or later, because the writer has other obligations (IBRA-Naposta-coordinator, head of
the AIJP, etc.) and has to postpone work on this. In the meantime reports received by mail
will be addressed by him immediately.
After the books Vereine und Philatelic im 19. Jahrhundert (2007) and Die Geschichte des
Prüfwesens in der Deutschen Philatelie (2008) this is now the third work by this author and
the most voluminous undertaking. In contrast, the two editions mentioned above, which are
weighed in kilograms, are the lightest, as long as you don’t print the [internet edition] out
completely, while the third edition, if printed as a book (even without portrait photos), would
surely entail several volumes. That is in the laps of the Gods. In a few years we will know
more about that. Right now this is for certain: The FIP-Literature Commission has expressed
its interest in linking it to its web site.
In a few days, the AIJP will attempt a direct link to the BDPh-pages, so you can get access to
this fund of knowledge by merely pushing a button. For commercial and other extended
utilizations it is suggested that you glance at the copyright notes.
The author himself understands this project is a beginning and hopes that - similar to
Wikipedia portals - many colleagues will come through with additions and suggestions.
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