Customer Reviews

The Error World: An Affair with Stamps

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Without meaning to be cruel, I do marvel at the conceit of people who because they've had some success believe that a record of their lives is somehow interesting, and I mean really interesting. Interesting in the "I'm gonna write a book that is all about me" sort of way and not in the "h'mmm, now that's interesting" sort of way that one might feel upon seeing a newly issued postage stamp, for instance.
I realize that a majority of us feel about ourselves that we are special and nuanced and possibly worthy of adulation. At the same time however we are sane enough to recognize that pretty much nobody leads a life that cries out to be auto-memorialized because we comprehend that all but a teeny tiny fraction of people bob around the statistical line known as average.
Some people should write autobiographies because their lives have been truly extraordinary, or because they lived through and helped to shape certain historical events that had tremendous effects upon a people or country or science, and above all have led inordinately interesting lives. For instance, Charles Manson should write an autobiography, Mao Tse Tung should have, the Founding Fathers of the United States might have. President and General U.S. Grant did. Thomas Edison's autobiography might have been fascinating. Voltaire's was predictably scandalous, the Marquis De Sade's scurrilous. Sei Shonagon's was too brief as was Geronimo's. Robinson Crusoe's was brilliant if a bit contrived.
You get the message though: Only certain classes of people should write autobiographies.

Mr. Garfield is not in them, any of them. Although he seems a likable enough chap his life and interest in stamps aren't compelling enough to hold one's interest for very long, certainly not for the length of a book (and this book really isn't about collecting, it's about Mr. Garfield). On the other hand, if he'd been able to amass a world-class stamp collection that involved him in possible skullduggery or, say, having to first trek through the jungles of Borneo to take possession of a particularly rare species of orchid in order to make the trade. Alas, nothing of the sort took place, at least not in Garfield's world. All he did was cheat on his wife; spend prodigious amounts of money building a postage stamp collection; and then snag a writing contract as a means to, among other things, ultimately profit from his otherwise injudicious behaviour.
I believe this to be a weak premise for an autobiographical story poorly told. I believe it would have been interesting in a much truncated version as an article in The New Yorker.

In the 70s, my parents attempted to get me involved in stamp collecting. Figuring it would be a good way for an overly hyperactive child to pass the time, they purchased a bag of cheap stamps and an album for me to play with. I spent a few lazy, rainy Sundays looking at stamps and trying to match them to the images of the book, but collecting never took my fancy, and I resorted to playing with my Star Wars action figures not long after.

Error World is a memoir about one man's passion for collecting error stamps. Simon Garfield began collecting as a child, his passion spilling out into stamp collecting novels and catalogs, first issues and magazines. When his parents died, he gave up his hobby, only to take it up again when midlife crisis set in, and his marriage was beginning to fall apart. His hobby was his passion, and his secret, his affair costly. His marriage dissolved when he had another affair of the extramarital kind; the divorce required that he sell of his collection.

What begins as a memoir turns out to be a rather interesting history of British stamps (they invented the whole thing, after all), famous errors, and the passion of collecting. The book is a little weak when it crosses outside of the stamp collecting circle to explain why people collect, but overall it's an interesting historical and cultural look at a dying passion.

As someone who never really participated in this hobby, I wasn't sure if I'd like the book or not, but I did. I found it intriguing and wondered if I was perhaps missing out on something by not partaking. But I think this book will really be enjoyed by those who participate in collecting, rather than people like me. It's a good read, regardless.

From a strictly literary standpoint, I enjoyed this book an awful lot. Garfield is a very engaging writer and sustains narrative very well. But holy buckets! I barely recognize the hobby he describes, and can feel the contempt he seems to have towards those collectors (such as myself) who are much more indiscriminate. The contempt oozes off every page, as he dismisses most stamp enthusiasts as mere "accumulators" rather than collectors. Well, excuse me --- if I had the disposable income, I certainly wouldn't mind putting together a collection on a par with Sir Gawaine Baillie's, but I'm just some poor schlub who spends maybe $50-$60 a month because --- dammit --- I love stamps. All of them! The impression I was left with was that somewhere along the line, Garfield forgot that this was supposed to be fun. Obssessions aren't necessarily all that enjoyable.

The general tone of the book left me wondering (like other reviewers have) just who this book is marketed towards. People who don't collect stamps will be bored beyond belief by the extended passages dealing with the history of stamps and the history of the errors market. Meanwhile, many stamp enthusiasts such as myself will feel alienated by Garfield's dismissiveness, not to mention what we regard as a perversion of what should be a rather nice, enjoyable hobby. So exactly is going to read this book? Probably about as many people as could afford to purchase the Blue Mauritius, I suspect.

Man cheats on wife, purchases large number of expensive stamps with printing errors, ponders his life, gets a book contract, and sells the collection of stamps. This is pretty thin material for an autobiography and somehow the author doesn't seem to notice that. But as readers we do notice it.

The book was a quick read, and moderately entertaining, hence a moderate rating. I learned a few minor things about stamps, and a bit about obsessive collecting. This would have made a great essay rather than a full-length book.

Reading this memoir about an on and off relationship to stamp collecting from across the pond, it was fascinating not only learning and discovering about the odd, sometimes bizarre world of collecting misprints mainly from the UK, but totally identifying with the author's near- obsession, starting in childhood, fading away in youth and early adulthood, and blazing back like a tornado in early middle age, and even beyond. The info was outstanding, the tone curious and fun, and the story thoroughly engaging thruout. So for an amusing, interesting, and maybe even profitable trip into stamps, cultures, and yes, even history, buy this book and keep it for future reference, fun, and even timelessness.

The author spins a good yarn and he is very entertaining. He doesn't mind poking fun at himself, which is good since he royally screwed up. He let his passion for stamp collecting control his life and couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't as enthralled with stamps as he was. His wife eventually left him. Not so much for the stamp collecting, although that about broke them up financially but because he was having an affair. I guess the two things combined was just too much for her. Go figure, huh.

I've always liked stamps but had no urge to collect them. Reading about the different kinds was interesting though. Collecting errors certainly appeals to Simon but personally I would want the Queen's head on my copy.

He tells with great candor how he went to a marriage counselor (not to save his marriage but to save his life). She wasn't interested in stamps either....

He also tells some of his past life when his parents were still alive. The writing style is easy and even though I was appalled at some of his stories...like when a parent died and he was upset but not upset enough not to collect the grievance card envelopes (for the stamps, you see). Appalled yes, but tickled too because of the way he described it.

Read it, you'll love it!

When does collecting become an irrational obsession? The author takes us close to the answer in this readable story of his pursuit of stamps issued with errors. I have not collected stamps since I was a small child, however, this tale of the pursuit of missing queen's heads, disappeared Minis, and wrong colored towers drew me in right away.

However, as it became apparent the Garfield is fixated on collecting errors and only errors and takes a dim view of collecting stamps for fun, or historical interest, or artistry I began to lose interest. The negative portrayal of the old men who are most stamp collectors also soured me. The author fails to appreciate he soon will be one of those old men.

The forays into other areas of collecting are really needless fluff. Yes, the story behind the auction of Pele's world cup jersey is a nice story but has little to do with errors, apart from the suggestion, probably valid, that the instinct to collect manifests in many areas other than stamps. The discussion of LSD blotter paper truly lost me. Garfield admits very few persons care about that sort of thing but still burdens the reader with numerous pages praising the artistry and beauty of acid drop paper. Mildly interesting at best. But, again, as with the Pele jersey, it's about collecting -- maybe stamps, maybe sports memorabilia, maybe acid paper, maybe records.

Ultimately, the journey through the book is unsatisfying (but still worth a read) because Garfield's particular brand of collecting discounts collecting for the sake of enjoyment and beauty while focusing on the ultimately unsatisfying quest for extremely rare, extremely expensive errors. This quest must be disappointing because, rather than collecting items he enjoys (however common or cheap), Garfield's collecting seems to be the product of an uncontrollable, sometimes destructive compulsion that will always remain unsatisfied. Indeed, Garfield disparages his childhood collection of rather common stamps even though it brought him great joy at the time he was doing the collecting. I suspect his quest for errors will never satisfy him as much as his receipt of a packet of exotic, if virtually worthless, stamps he ordered from a shady mail order outfit. The childhood collector grew into a middle aged compulsive, unable to recapture a child's innocent joy at collecting stamps pretty to look or from distant, unreachable lands.

In short, the book is a nice read. But collecting as Garfield does cannot be very much fun and would seem hardly satisfying.

I enjoyed reading this book perhaps because I was born and brought up in London and also collect stamps. I can easily relate to furtively swapping copies of Health and Efficiency as a schoolboy.
The insights into the minds of collectors and the world of philately were very interesting.
I bought the kindle version which in this case was cheaper than the print.

An entertaining, well-written, non-fiction read for anyone who collects anything, but especially postage stamps. Rare stamps (in particular, errors) could be considered extreme collecting, and this story is all about that. It is also an insightful self analysis about midlife.

A friend told me that publishing houses have all but abandoned editing. Books go out the way they were written, warts and all. This book is one that tends to make me believe that.
There is a variety of material: personal reminiscences concerning stamp collecting; researched information concerning stamp collecting; interviews with experts in the field; and discussions of possible motivations for collecting stamps and other things, ranging from nice, normal-sounding motivations to obsessions and mental disorders. It's too bad that all this material isn't arranged in a more logical manner.
I used to collect stamps during a time in my life when my husband and I wanted to have a child, but no child was on the horizon. I found that messing around with the stamps and placing them into the (child's level) album gave me a sense of calm order, control, and progress which I didn't get from either my work life nor my private life. Once the child was born, stamp-collecting disappeared from my life, though I saved some stamps at times, thinking I'd go back to the hobby later, in retirement.
Well, now I'm retired and have no interest in collecting stamps! Also, one thing that Mr. Garfield (he lets us know that the family name was originally Garfunkel) makes very clear is that most ordinary stamps don't gain any value at all during a person's lifetime, and you'd might as well USE THEM FOR POSTAGE.
I did find the parts concerning the Blue Mauritius and the mysterious Black on Magenta of British Guiana to be fascinating, and weirdly, I felt a kind of desire to see or own these stamps. As the author notes, there is something intrinsically appealing about stamps - their size and shape, their colors, their existence as miniature artworks that have a certain power - a power to convert money into delivery of letters. But that weird desire to see the stamps - resist! Don't be a stamp zombie (I tell myself!).
All in all, this book has its moments but doesn't quite attain its goals. It's a bit self-indulgent - the author seems to be saying to himself, "I'm writing a BOOK!" If you've been bitten by the stamp flea, though, you'll probably enjoy it.