James Negus


James Negus was a British philatelist and book editor.

Early life

Jim Negus was a student of chemistry and then a civil servant. Later he worked as a literary editor for British publishing houses.

Stanley Gibbons

He had already published some philatelic books at Heinemann when he was hired in 1975 by Stanley Gibbons to manage its philatelic and numismatic publications. In 1977, he was promoted to editor of the Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue. He decided its thematic and geographic division into 21 volumes but in 1981 he was made redundant as part of an economy plan.

''The Connoisseur catalogue of Machin stamps''

Negus was a major contributor to the long-running series The Connoisseur catalogue of Machin stamps.

Collecting

Negus was a member of many philatelic societies and contributed numerous articles to their journals. His interests were diverse. In 1957 he was the first Editor of the Journal of Chinese Philately of the China Philatelic Society of London. In the 1980s, he studied souvenirs created and distributed for British philatelic exhibitions.
In 2000, Negus stopped all philatelic activity and sold his book and stamp collections in order to concentrate on non-philatelic interests. He lived at Milford on Sea, Hampshire until his death in February 2008.
Ron Butler, President of the Royal Philatelic Society London in the 1970s, described him as "the best of bibliographers and the most competent of researchers".
His brother, Ron Negus, was a philatelic author too and honorary archivist of the Royal Philatelic Society London.

Selected publications