Mount Brown was an early British philatelist and the compiler of only the second published stamp catalogue

Stamp catalog

A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting...

 in the English language. Brown attended the City of London School

City of London School

The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...

 and started to collect stamps in around 1860.

Catalogues

Mount Brown published his Catalogue of British, Colonial, and Foreign Postage Stamps in May 1862, just weeks after Frederick Booty

Frederick Booty

Frederick William Booty was an artist, living in Brighton, England, who was also the author of the first postage stamp catalogue in English, and the first illustrated stamp catalogue anywhere.- Education :...

 published his catalogue in April 1862, however, Brown's catalogue was more successful and reckoned to be more complete. Unlike Booty, Brown's catalogue was unillustrated. Others, such as Dr. Viner, may already have prepared unpublished hand-written lists of stamps. Brown's catalogue was more successful than Booty's and went through 7500 copies and five editions up to 1864.

Brown largely compiled his catalogue in the Rectory of All Hallows Staining

All Hallows Staining

All Hallows Staining was a Church of England church located at the junction of Fenchurch Avenue and Billiter Street in the north-eastern corner of Langbourn ward in the City of London, close to Fenchurch Street railway station. All that remains of the church is the tower, built around 1320 AD as...

, and he believed that the church there was the one mentioned by Charles Dickens in Dombey & Son. Mount Brown had a collection of about 400 stamps but was able to list 1200 different types in his first catalogue with the help of a group of like-minded collectors who met on Saturday afternoons to pool their knowledge. These included Dr. Charles W. Viner

Charles Viner

Charles William Viner A.M., Ph.D., was a British philatelist who was a founding member of the Philatelic Society, London, later to become the Royal Philatelic Society London, and who was present at the initial meeting of the society on 10 April 1869...

, Henry Haslett

Henry Haslett

Henry Haslett was one of the small group who met regularly at the Rev. Stainforth's Rectory that formed the nucleus from which The Philatelic Society, London, subsequently The Royal Philatelic Society London, was formed...

, Frederick Philbrick

Frederick Philbrick

Frederick Adolphus Philbrick was a lawyer and an early British philatelist.He was one of the founders of the "Philatelic Society, London", which later became the Royal Philatelic Society London...

, William Hughes-Hughes

William Hughes-Hughes

William Hughes-Hughes J.P. D.L. was a founding member of The Philatelic Society, London, which subsequently became The Royal Philatelic Society London, and one of the small group who met regularly at the Rev. Stainforth's Rectory before that society was formed...

, Sir Daniel Cooper and the Rev. Francis J. Stainforth

Francis Stainforth

The Reverend Francis John Stainforth was an early British philatelist and the Perpetual Curate of All Hallows Staining church in London where Mount Brown compiled large parts of his catalogue. The church was believed to be the one mentioned by Charles Dickens in Dombey & Son...

. The Rev. Stainforth in particular was said to have had a very fine collection which largely formed the basis for Brown's catalogue.

The catalogue was quickly plagiarised, by John Kline, writing as A.C. Kline, in 1862, and by W.H. Wright writing as "A Collector" in 1863. According to The Stamp Collectors Magazine, Brown was well aware of the plagiarism and had arranged for all copies of Wright's work to be surrendered to him for destruction. He had also taken steps to prevent the introduction of Kline's work to Great Britain.

Addenda to the catalogue were published in The Stamp Collector's Magazine, of which Mr Viner was editor 1863-67, and revisions to the format of the catalogue took place in the third edition, following contact between Mount Brown and Dr. Gray

John Edward Gray

John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....

 of the British Museum. The number of stamps listed also expanded and details of forgeries began to be included.

Philatelic business

As well as catalogues, a stamp album was available, billed as Mount Brown's Postage-Stamp or Crest Album, price seven and a half shillings, and lists of unused postage stamps.

By 1870 Brown's philatelic business was so great that he was forced to choose between it and his normal profession. He chose to give up philately but retained an interest, visiting the Junior Philatelic Society

National Philatelic Society

The National Philatelic Society is one of two national philatelic societies in Great Britain. The other is the Royal Philatelic Society London.- History :...

's exhibition in 1908 where he met Fred Melville

Fred Melville

Frederick John Melville was a British philatelist, prolific philatelic author and founder of The Junior Philatelic Society. He was also a founder in 1907 of the Philatelic Literature Society...

.

Organised philately

The small group who met at All Hallows Staining formed the nucleus of what became The Philatelic Society, London, which eventually became the Royal Philatelic Society London. Mount Brown was not a member of The Philatelic Society, possibly because it was open only to amateurs.

Selected publications

• Catalogue of British, Colonial, and Foreign Postage Stamps: comprising upwards of 1200 varieties, 1st edition, F. Passmore, London, May 1862. (2nd ed June 1863, 3rd 1863, 4th 1863, 5th 1864.)