Briefmarken sammeln – Warum? Es muss nicht immer die Mauritius sein! – Dr. Heinz Jaeger

"Collecting stamps - why?" is the question posed by the honorary president of the BDPh and the Consilium Philatelicum. Hardly anyone else is as qualified to answer this question as the 97-year-old doctor from Lörrach, Germany, whose passion for philately and postal history is proverbial. His simple summary in short form can already be found in the subtitle of the with 385 pages quite extensive work: "It does not always have to be the Mauritius!"

He proves this with numerous entertaining, but very knowledgeably written individual contributions, which underlie his favorite motto "classic - modern" and illustrate it with fascinating contemporary historical covers, stamps and letters. One probably has to become as old as the author of this book to gain the experience and wisdom of life to write such a book. It is an advertisement for philately, for the fascination of collecting and preserving and not forgetting. But the topics presented in 23 chapters are also memorials and reminders of times that are fortunately only history.

Dieter Michelson, who accompanied the manuscript, classifies the work as "social philately", since the social component, the history behind and especially in the letters of each time was always important to the author. Sender, addressee, time and accompanying circumstances and just not only postal rates or postal routes. He wrote in a special supplement of the BMS recently: "This book is a must! For non-philatelists, so that they learn to understand the same. And for philatelists, so that they learn not to see everything so doggedly!" This fits to the order "Wider den tierischen Ernst in der Philatelie!", which Jaeger was also already awarded once decades ago.

But whether it is appropriate to call the physician Jaeger an "old warhorse of the most beautiful hobby in the world" in a publisher's advertisement remains to be seen. Because the author was never a "swashbuckler", rather the opposite is the case. The Lörrach connoisseur, connoisseur and expert always connected people, sought to entertain them charmingly, gently and smilingly, to bring them closer to philately as "medicine" for heart and soul. This is precisely why this book is suitable as a gift, for partners not yet infected with philately, friends and acquaintances, for family and children - and even for grandchildren. An almost unbelievably low price of 19.80 Euros for this opulently designed hardcover work in full color (almost every small paperback book costs that today!) makes the decision easy.

- Wolfgang Maassen (AIJP)

Format 20 x 26.5 cm, 385 pages, numerous color illustrations, hardcover, German