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Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps
Blue Mauritius, my first book, was published by Atlantic Books in the UK in August 2006. It is now available in paperback (published April 2009). You can buy it online from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.
Follow the adventures of the world’s most sought-after postage stamps – from a tropical Indian Ocean island to the hushed atmosphere of the modern auction room – in a dramatic and passionate tale of the first stamp hunters.
‘Who among us, upon reading of this adventure, can resist another quick once-over through those musty family letters in the attic?’ Simon Garfield, Wall Street Journal
‘Not just an entertaining and meticulously researched history of Mauritius and its stamps, but also an absorbing look at the early development of one of the world’s most widespread hobbies’. Sunday Business Post
Research Companion website
The Research Companion website for my book brings together subject entries from the narrative, including a biography for each of the twenty-seven stamps, with bibliographical citations and related images. The navigational key to the website, and its utility, lies in the relationships between subjects and resources.
Why I wrote Blue Mauritius
I was intrigued by the story of the French schoolboy and the Bordeaux letter and imagined his delight after reading of the stamps’ rarity and value, astutely searching through the archived correspondence of the French wine importing firm and discovering the ‘Post Office’ stamps.
The story had all the elements which appealed to me as a researcher, archivist and writer, including but not limited to: the visual appeal of the stamps; their production and the early history of the postal service and communication in Mauritius; the philatelic detective work required to unravel their status as the first issue of Mauritius during the 1860s; philatelic research as a science; the provenance of the known examples and the history of collecting, both ‘big game’ and ’small’; those who have owned, lusted after and studied the stamps; the concepts of rarity, intrinsic value, true worth and fame; the role that accident, chance and determined hunting have played in the discovery of the known examples; the apocryphal stories surrounding the stamps, and their appearance in fiction from at least 1896 onwards, including the likes of Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius in the 1950s and an episode of The Avengers.
Am I stamp collector?
Not quite. I collected first day covers for twenty years (from childhood) without thinking much about it, but would not (yet) describe myself as a stamp collector (I keep meaning to collect Mauritius, and now that I’ve been to Botswana I might end up collecting Bechuanaland/Botswana too) – that’s not why I wrote this book.
In part, perhaps my interest stems from an inherited family passion for collecting the detritus that other people throw away (from flea markets, hard rubbish collections and the tip). It is a habit I have almost broken, although I’ve now started collecting everyday plastic water bottles from my overseas travels …
Reviews
- Begbie, Richard, ‘Quest for Blue Mauritius stamped with intrigue’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Canberra Times, 17 February 2007, p. 17, p. 17. [ Details... ]
- ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), The Good Book Guide, September 2006. [ Details... ]
- ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Stamp & Coin Mart, November 2006, p. 69, p. 69. [ Details... ]
- Caterson, Simon, ‘A hobby worth sticking with’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), The Age, A2, 13 January 2007, p. 20, p. 20. [ Details... ]
- Chakravarti, Priya, ‘Blue Mauritius’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Adelaide Advertiser, 17 February 2007, p. 10, p. 10. [ Details... ]
- Colbeck, Robert, ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamp [sic]‘, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Yorkshire Post, 12 August 2006. [ Details... ]
- Dulagil, Erol, ‘The Blue Mauritius’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Investment & Technology, April 2007, p. 34, p. 34. [ Details... ]
- Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic, ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), FT Magazine [Financial Times], 23-24 September 2006. [ Details... ]
- Lewis, Peter, ‘The island stamps that are worth a pretty penny’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Daily Mail, 11 August 2006. [ Details... ]
- Maniaty, Tony, ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), The Weekend Australian, 21 April 2007, p. 15, p. 15. [ Details... ]
- McRobbie, Alexander, ‘Blue Mauritius’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Courier Mail, 10 February 2007, p. 32, p. 32. [ Details... ]
- Rennie, David, ‘Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Philatelic Explorer, September 2006. [ Details... ]
- Sale, Jonathan, Going postal for a paper fix, The Independent, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), London, 25 August 2006, http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article1221464.ece. [ Details... ]
- Skelly, Susan, ‘Stamp & Deliver: The Journey of the Blue Mauritius from mail to million-dollar must-have is a saga of collectors, curios and cheats’, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), The Bulletin, 6 February 2007, p. 68, p. 68. [ Details... ]
- Wood, Kieron, The secret history of rare stamps, The Sunday Business Post, review of Morgan, Helen, Blue Mauritius: The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps (2006), Ireland, 27 August 2006, http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/08/27/story16635.asp. [ Details... ]