The Exhibition Study Group consists of 100+ people who have a wide range of interest from the 1851 Great Exhibition onwards, from the stamps and special postmarks used throughout this period, to advertising stickers, commemorative plates and other crested china ware, medals, post cards, printed ephemera, books, etc. British Exhibitions, including and Philatelic Congress and Exhibitions, attract most attention, but a few members are interested in Foreign Exhibitions. It is truly a vast collecting field, with common items costing a few pence, to rare pieces well into four figures.
The majority of our members live in the United Kingdom, but we do have members living in Ireland, Northern Europe, the United States of America, and Australasia.
The Group published Newsletter No. 1 in 1980 and was circulated to just ten members. Newsletters came out very spasmodically in the beginning, and only seven were published in the next seven years, No. 7 coming out in February 1987, and in this the Editor announced the holding of our first one-day convention at York in October of that year. Everyone who attended that first meeting said it was a success, and voted that it should become an annual two-day event. The convention is always held on the last full weekend of September. The meetings start about 9.30am with the AGM, which is quickly dispensed with, the rest of the time being taken up with talks and displays given by our members. On the Saturday evening we hold our Annual Dinner – a chance to relax in good company and enjoy yourself.
One of our aims is to encourage and assist those who are interested in, or are doing research into various subjects related to Exhibitions. When Bill Tonkin took over from Andrew Brooks as editor and secretary in 1992, and we changed the Newsletter into a Journal to reflect this. Members can request information and help with their research, and publish the results of their labours in the Journal, which is now issued four times each year.
Recent articles:- added 1 November 2008.New book just out:- Post cards of the Great White City Exhibitions 1908 - 1914
Enjoy the following pages:-
Recent articles. Index to articles from Journals since 2000.
Index of issues 1 - 55. Articles from Journals up to 2000, (but some without the illustrations).
Membership details. A membership form for you to print out and send to us.
Publications. A listing of the books published by Exhibition Study Group members.
Updates. A listing of new finds since our books were published.
Related sites. Some more sites for you to explore and enjoy.
Exhibitions. A potted history of some of the major exhibitions over the last 150 years.