History
The first stamp catalog was published in France by Oscar Berger-Levrault on 17 September 1861 and the first illustrated catalog by Alfred Potiquet in December 1861 (based on the earlier work).
The first catalogs in Great Britain were published in 1862 by Frederick Booty, Mount Brown, and Dr. John Edward Gray. The first in the United States was The Stamp Collector's Manual by A.C. Kline (a pseudonym for John William Kline), also 1862.
Older catalogs are still widely used by collectors as they may contain information not found in current catalogs and not all collectors are concerned about prices.
Originally catalogs were just dealers' price lists, and in most cases, that is still one of their functions. Over time, as philately developed, catalogs tended to accumulate additional supporting details about the stamps, such as dates of issue, color variations, and so forth. As their use by collectors became widespread, the catalogs came to define what was and was not a legitimate stamp, since many collectors would avoid stamps not described in the catalog. In recent years, the Internet has become a common resource for information about stamps. Some catalogs have an on-line version while others are available only on-line.
Read more about this topic: Stamp Catalog
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