Stamp catalogues are extremely helpful aids for the collector. A stamp catalogue helps the philatelist learn about the stamps he has already collected and helps him select which issues he would next like to acquire. By finding the listing of a stamp in a catalogue, the collector can learn when a stamp was first issued, what a commemorative honors, what kind of printing was used to manufacture the stamp, what the perforations are, what, if any, watermark is present, whether or not the stamp is part of a set, and if so, how many similar stamps are included in that set, and other relevant features.

The 1854 first issues of India and also first stamps ever made in Asia included a Four Annas value in red and blue. However, an error occurred during production, showing the head "upside down." This is one of the world's first multicolored stamps. The design consisted of a profile portrait of Queen Victoria in blue inside an octagonal red frame with the words INDIA above and FOUR ANNAS below. These Four Annas Stamps are first printed in October, 1854 and 17,170 sheets were printed.

Cochin is a small state in the south-west of the Indian peninsula, which is presently known as Kerala Sate. Malayalam is the language of this region and all the stamps of this State are bilingual, displaying both Malayalam and English.

The first stamp produced by Sweden in 1855 was normally printed in a blue-green color; however this rare stamp was mistakenly printed in a yellow orange shade. The normal three skilling stamp printed in Sweden is colored green while the eight skilling stamp was printed in yellow. However, due to an unknown error (but most likely the three skilling plate was accidently replaced by an eight skilling one), the three skilling stamp was printed in yellow, creating the Treskilling Yellow Stamp. The number of stamps printed in the wrong color is unknown.

• The Term Philately was coined by Georges Herpin of Paris. Herpin create the word as a suitable replacement for the hobby's previous pseudo-scientific name, the derogatory timbromanie, which means 'stamp madness'. Herpin is said to have first used the new word in a French Stamp collecting publication, Collectionneur de Timbre-Poste, issued November 3, 1864.

For many years the postal service in the U.K. had been a very expensive service for ordinary people to use. The costs were prohibitive, a single letter sometimes costing a working person's full day's wages. Postage before 1840 was expensive and unreliable. In Great Britain at this time, postage charges were exorbitant to say the least, to send a single small page letter cost four pence to a maximum 20 miles (32km), to send a letter 100 miles (160km) cost nine pence.