This luxurious book is the result of several years of systematic study. In a concise yet understandable and structured way, it brings together much of the philatelic knowledge regarding the Large Hermes Heads—the first postage stamps of Greece, officially issued from 1861 to 1886.

It is an introductory, yet highly detailed, book in English aimed specifically at helping the stamp collector identify and classify these magnificent classical stamps. The ample and oversized photographic material captures much of the richness and varieties of their printings, with extra care to ensure that color subtleties are rendered as accurately as possible, given the technical constraints. In addition, it caters to such diverse subjects as postal history, forgeries, identification via diagrams, plating, and technological equipment and its setup—as required to study those stamps.

It is published under the auspices of the Hellenic Philatelic Society, the oldest and largest philatelic society in Greece, which has not only closely associated its name with the Large Hermes Heads but even more so with research and spread of philatelic knowledge related to Greek stamps.

The author, Dimitris Papitsis, is an advanced Large Hermes Heads (LHH) collector, having dedicated his collecting and researching interests exclusively to this field. He has authored numerous articles on this subject for the philatelic magazines of the Hellenic Philatelic Society (HPS) and the Philatelic Society of Athens. He has delivered LHH- related presentations numerous times for HPS and StampEx, with topics such as precise paper thickness measurement, scanner calibration for color-corrected scans, and practical use of artificial intelligence for LHH classification—among others.

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“This book is excellent in every way, and it is an incomparable resource for the serious philatelist who would like to get involved with the Large Hermes Heads. Highly recommended!”

–MICHAEL TSERIOTIS, A.I.E.P.-certified expert and developer of the main Large Hermes Heads classification system.

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Author and publisher: Dimitris Papitsis
Published: May 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9897891-0-8
Pages: 240
Size: Letter (8.5×11 inches)
Printing: full color
Binding: hardbound
Matte cover & dust jacket
Paper type: gloss
Paper weight: 150gsm
Includes a bound-in bookmark ribbon marker, and head & tail band.

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