XI+376 pp. - more than 1300 colour ill. - hardbound - printed 2013
English text

World postage stamps and other postal documents presented through a historical and philatelic survey of astronomy, its development, some related topics on space exploration, instrumentation, theories, and observations.

It contains more than 1300 colour reproductions of postage stamps relating to the history of astronomy, ranging from the earliest observations of the sky to modern research conducted with satellites and space probes. Many stamps illustrate the beauty and the mystery of celestial objects: galaxies, nebulae, stars, planets, satellites, comets, and minor celestial bodies.

Featured are also the astronomers and astrophysicists who contributed to this marvellous story - not only Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Herschel, and Einstein but also hundreds of other minor protagonists who played an important role in the development of this, the most ancient yet the most modern of all the sciences.