Before you purchase your first stamp album you should have some plan in your mind, even just a few thoughts and inclinations, on the likely progress and eventual scope of your collection. Most beginners buy or are given a monster packet of stamps and a printed album with a page for every country. Sooner or later you will run out of space and the surplus stamps of some countries will be scattered untidily on other pages. In these circumstances, enthusiasm may flag as the only solution is a larger album with all the work of rearranging your stamps!    


Your choice of a suitable album is important. It shouldn't be too small - for obvious reasons - and not too large because unless you have a very large collection and anticipate buying many more stamps, your existing stamps will be greatly extended and give your collection a sparse appearance. Printed album - those with printed country headings at the top of each pages - can be obtained fastbound (like a book) or with loose-leaf ring-fitting binders. The great advantage of the loose-leaf system is that the leaves can be rearranged - and extra leaves added - as you wish. The 'one-country' printed album usually have a space for each stamp, possibly illustrated with periodic supplements. 


Obviously, the affixing of the mounts by hand is a time-consuming process and hence such albums are more expensive than those which require you to affix the mounts yourself. For many collectors the convenience is well worth the extra outlay. For the 'do-it-yourself' collector who prefers to arrange and 'write-up' the collection on blank leaves there are many splendid albums in the Gibbons range to choose from. They are priced according to quality, size and capacity, and the binders are springback (which open wide to release the leaves), ring-fitting or peg-fitting.  

Multi-ring albums have the advantage of lying flat when the album is opened, while it is usually necessary to take out spring-back and peg-fitted leaves when working on them. You can prepare your own country headings for blank leaves, or you can buy the special booklets of gummed country-name labels. Blank albums are of course especially suitable for thematic collecting - the pursuit of a certain subject or theme (such as birds, flowers or transport) - where the arrangement of the stamps entirely depends on the theme and its sub-divisions. 


Stamp Starter Packs are an inexpensive way of starting a stamp collection. They include an album, stamps, magnifier, tweezers and hinges.