This web site is for collectors of matchbox labels and associated material. It has no connection with matchbox model cars or any die cast models.
The site has been designed to accommodate the latest browsers and computer systems.   However, it is fully compatible to many earlier
 versions.  Ideally, a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 or greater should be used but resolutions down to 1024 x 768 can be
 accommodated but, usually with a lesser degree of sharpness and a likelihood of both vertical & horizontal scrolling.
 Click the browser back arrow at top left to go back - Do not click the red/black cross on the right unless you wish to exit the web site completely

Welcome to the
Books & Catalogues Area
of the web site

It was very frustrating when I first started collecting matchbox labels.  I expected to find an abundance of written material on the subject and was seriously disappointed when I didn’t.  I went to my local library who to some degree was able to help a little but to the majority, it seemed as if the humble matchbox had died and gone to heaven. 

Then casually, one of the librarians suggested that I should look under ‘Ephemera’.  A strange place I thought especially when one sees all  the various subjects listed under that strange sounding name!  However, to some degree that was an eye opener as during my searches I came across The British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society.  A society no less - surely I’d hit pay-dirt?  After contacting the BML & BS and subsequently joining, I    realised that there was a whole new world out there that I’d never seen before.

It was like discovering a new species of the human race!  People were conversing in this strange language called Phillumeny.  Like an illness this Phillumeny bug was catching and in a blink of an eye like tickling trout, I was well and truly hooked!

However, I digress - as, even with joining the Society, it still didn’t help me find the books I wanted and needed.  Many years later I now realise that the hobby is very similar to a self-supporting help group.  Unless the members write the books, nothing is ever put to print.

Consequently, one of the most difficult aspects of the hobby is finding information about matchbox labels, the factories that made them and the countries that they came from.   It's as if all efforts have been made to prevent collectors from finding this elusive information.  However, who or whatever  has stood in the way has not understood the resolve of the ardent and furtive collector and the quest he or she has for the facts as they are.

Consequently, there is a continuing search by collectors to uncover the history around a label, a factory, a country or perhaps all three.  Researchers have to be congratulated on their resolve.

Whilst the published results can vary from a couple of pages of A4 to 300 pages or more, the principal is the same - its' information, and any information is better than no information at all.

There is vast amounts of completed research transformed into books, catalogues and other forms of media in the public domain yet so little is actually publicised.  By creating this section on my web site, I hope to go a little way to resolving the vacuum that currently exists in the belief that those who produced the material have a genuine need to share that material with others of a like mind!!

I am desperately looking for individuals or companies who have produced documents relating to the match or the match industry.  It can be a one page document or a publication with many pages, the quantity of pages is irrelevant.  If its' match related, then lets get it listed  on one of the pages on my site.

I own a number of books and catalogues which I have either purchased or been given over the years, and I have started this section by reviewing some of those.  As time permits, I will review more.

However, I am also calling on others to contact me in respect of material they either own or even better documents, books, catalogues or publications that they have personally authored or compiled.  Overseas authors and compilers who have produced match related material are welcome to display that material on these pages irrespective of the language they have been printed in..

There is no time frame imposed on any material displayed in this section.  Some excellent work was produced by devoted collectors in many cases over three or four decades ago.   If you have copies of these publications, or are the originating author, then this section is definitely for  you. 

If any material reviewed is still in print, then details of where it can be obtained and the costs involved should also be given.

For anyone who is considering producing a reference pamphlet, catalogue or book, then this is the place you should look to see if the subject matter has been undertaken before.  If it has, perhaps an updated version would be appropriate.  Whatever the outcome, this section should be your first point of call in promoting its' existence!!

To review a publication you have or to have a book or catalogue you have authored placed in this section of the site,  please send an e-mail to the webmaster@phillumeny.eu    Please advise what you wish to do and I will get back  to you with specific information in relation to your request.

Happy reading and lets get this section buzzing!!

Aaron Brünger

BML & BS Member 7291

19th November 2007

Page History
  First produced on 12th November 2005
Updated on 19th November 2007 & 11th February 2008

38

© 2001 - 2011 & beyond - Sussex Matchbox Labels - All rights reserved Faults or problems e-mail: The Webmaster