Collecting stamps on narrow themes / topics is an appealing branch of stamp collecting. In my case I particularly enjoy themes related to my other interests where very few stamps were issued as can be fun tracking them down. Two societies that am a member of which cater for this type of collecting are the American Topical Association and the British Thematic Association.
Thematic and Topical collecting are used interchangeably by some sources but the ATA do identify and note the subtle formal difference. In my collections a topical one would be on slide rules, only stamps showing a slide rule feature. For the Brontë sisters it is thematic because includes not just stamps depicting them but a wider theme to show other issues associated with their life and work and also 19th century postcards of the area where they lived.
The ATA invite both members and non-members to submit to their annual virtual exhibition. It is quite informal apart from some basic presentation guidelines. It is worth browsing the ATA 2021 / 22 stamp exhibits as illustrates the wide variety of topics that interest collectors from animals, plants, art, science, technology, history etc. The BTA exhibit is a more formal one for members and where judges provide useful feedback on the various aspects including presentation and content.
The virtual exhibits were partly prompted by COVID lockdown allowing enthusiasts to continue to their share their interests. One page and multi-page exhibits have been established for many years at philately meetings where actual stamps / covers etc stamps are presented; I have no experience of these. The virtual form is more versatile in some respects to make the best use of one page as crops / reductions of say first day covers or large stamp sheets are permitted. Non-philatelic items are often permitted in an exhibit and the A4 format allowed a scan at natural size of a 5 inch slide rule to be added and in the radiolaria / diatom exhibits, photomicrographs of specimens.
It is enjoyable preparing a one page exhibit—deciding what examples to include, presentation, text commentary etc. All can vary widely as the ATA exhibits above show. My own design skills are limited so those below are rather conventional in presentation—some very creative approaches can be admired on the ATA website.
The one page exhibits that have prepared to date are below—diatoms, radiolaria, snow crystals, HMS Challenger expedition, slide rules, Brontë sisters.
Comments to the author David Walker are welcomed.