On the day that this article is being written there is great excitement among the collecting fraternity of Bermuda. A very important auction of stamps, postal history and memorabilia is taking place in one of the London auction houses. Material that has not been seen on the market for decades will appear before the publics gaze for a few short minutes only to be secreted away once more into one of the many collections of scarce Bermudiana which have always existed in this island's history.

A special feature of today's auction is that there are being offered hand written letters sent to and from the colony from the earliest days of its discovery in the seventeenth century, unique documents which can tell us so much about the hearts and minds of the first settlers.

Books too, making reference to Bermuda, are known from 1609 onwards and it is an exciting achievement to lay ones hands on one of these. It was really about 1825 that specialised publications about Bermuda made their first appearance. Initially volumes seem to have been produced about every ten years. 'Sketches of Bermuda! by Richard Cotter 1828 gave a view of the place from a naval officer's perspective, while 'Sketches of Bermuda! by Susette Lloyd 1835 commented more on living conditions of the inhabitants as a visitor might see them. Both these publications appeared in very small numbers which make them very collectable now. In fact books generally about the Island never have had large printings, since Bermuda is such a small community. Thus there is always the appeal of scarcity quite apart from the information the books give about the place.

As the Victorian age progressed, a further dozen or so works on various Bermuda subjects reached our shelves, histories and guide books being perhaps the most notable. But it was really in the twentieth century that local authors blossomed. Hundreds of books on all sorts of themes have appeared, as usual published in small numbers - perhaps a few hundred, or at most a couple of thousand. As suddenly as they are available for purchase, they are gone, often with no thought of a second printing. It all makes for an interesting and challenging hobby for collectors.

The first map to show Bermuda appeared in an illustration of what was to become the West Indies. Peter Martyr had it illustrated as a woodcut in 1511. Our island appears on the page thousands of miles out of its true position - actually to the east of the Canaries! All sorts of reasons have been postulated for this mistake - perhaps the most credible is that an attempt was being made to keep valuable geographical information from falling into the hands of the cartographer's enemies. Bermuda at the time was the turning mark for treasure ships to head across the Atlantic towards their home ports. Why make it easy for them! Better that such should founder on local coral reefs for the benefit of others.

It was Richard Norward who within 15 years of the wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609 completed the first truly successful survey of Bermuda. Maps based on his beautiful drawings were soon in circulation, and were incorporated into atlases by such notable European mapmakers as Speed, Bleau, Hondius and Ogilby.

Tentative charts of local waters also began to appear in the seventeenth century , though really accurate marine surveys had to wait until Victorian times. It is intriguing to spot the mistakes on the early charts which, despite these, are most attractive works of art.

As with old Bermuda books, antique maps of the Somers Isles are in short supply. Most atlases give this little volcanic atoll in its lonely isolation in the Atlantic the dot it deserves. It takes a brave and adventurous map maker to draw Bermuda in all its glory, complete with cartouches and vignettes of romantic explorers and fierce monsters.

Besides benefitting from the written word and the surveyor's rule, Bermuda has received more than its fair share of painters and illustrators. Many of these were military men keeping up their sketching skills for future more exacting assignments in campaigns elsewhere, or simply passing away the many hours in a peaceful colony such as this one. Names such as Driver, Edward James and Hallewell come into this category and we have beautiful oil paintings, watercolours, engravings and lithographs to commemorate their endeavours.

In the twentieth century Bermuda reached its zenith as an upmarket tourist resort; photographs, vintage posters, pamphlets and postcards regularly made their appearance. Stamps and postal history, their quirks and variations, are well documented - witness the auction mentioned earlier. Whatever the speciality the individual chooses, there is much enjoyment to be had from collecting Bermudiana - a pastime that can benefit present and future generations alike as long as care and consideration is taken for the rigours of the local climate on delicate materials.