In this series, we have already seen that the stamp collecting virus had spread quickly in 1862 in Europe. But had the virus reached the Netherlands? The answer is yes, but not until the end of that year.
The first philatelic article appeared in the Netherlands in October 1862 in ‘Het Nederlandsch Jaarboekje der Posterijen’ (the Netherlands Postal Yearbook). The Schiedam postmaster S. Gille Heringa had translated articles from the Magasin Pittoresque (see episode 7) written by Natalis Rondot, and entitled them: ‘Postage Stamps by Natalis Rondot, freely translated’. The series continued in the yearbooks from 1863 and 1864.
The main pioneer of philately in the Netherlands was based in Utrecht. And on November 27, 1862, he published the first Dutch language stamp catalogue. This booklet, entitled “Vade-Mecum voor Verzamelaars van Postzegels” (Handbook for Stamp Collectors) is a translation of the third edition of the “Manuel du Collectionneur de Timbres Poste” by J.B. Moens. The publisher of this book was William Frederick Dannenfelser, bookseller and publisher and since 1850 located at the Pausdam F. 274, Utrecht. It is unclear whether this issue was published with the consent of Moens. His name was not mentioned in the book. In 1864 he published a new catalogue, complete with prices of the stamps he sold himself. The layout of this catalogue was totally different than the first Handbook and probably copied from a German catalogue from that time. It is also known that Dannenfelser simply re-issued other publications and placed his name on them.
Dannenfelser was born on May 26 1826 in The Hague. He became a bookstore owner/publisher and was married to Wilhelmina Berendina Doorman. Besides the catalogues mentioned above, he also published a stamp album in 1863. This was not his own design, but an adaptation of Lallier’s French album. The first edition had heraldic crests on the album pages in black and white (image above), the second edition which also appeared in 1863 the crests were coloured.
In 1868 a completely new third edition appeared. Again not his own design but an adaptation of a German album from Wuttig, Bauschke and Kümmel (whom we refer to later in this series). Their names are this time mentioned in the publication. It was also mentioned that it was edited by M.J. Hasselt.
Dannenfelser was probably a stamp collector. And certainly a trader, as evidenced by the above ad. The Vademecum mentioned was the already-published 1862 edition. It seems that the catalogue mentioned at the bottom of the advertisement was the above-described 2nd edition, published with prices.
His other publications related to maps and history of countries. Dannenfelser was probably not such a good businessman.
Although his business initially flourished, it was not long-lasting. In 1878 he moved to Amsterdam, where he, among other things, became co-director of the newspaper “News of the Day”. He published his last album (with brilliantly coloured binding) in 1882. He died in Amsterdam on May 8, 1894.
In the next instalment, we remain in the Netherlands.
