August Dietz began his publishing career in 1897 when he partnered with Franklin Sterns, Jr. and Franklin L. Kerns to form the Virginia Philatelic Publishing Company. In September 1897 they published the first issue of the Virginia Philatelist with Dietz as editor. Even at this early period Dietz showed a passion for Confederates including many articles about Confederates. In 1904 he left the partnership and started his own business, The Dietz Printing Company, in Richmond, Virginia.
After more than 20 years building his own printing business, Dietz found the time to start a new magazine, the Southern Philatelist. The first issue of this new publication appeared in November 1924 with a focus on the stamps of the Confederacy as highlighted by a serialized study of the subject.
With the close of volume 5 of the Southern Philatelist, Dietz announced the next issue would be a New Southern Philatelist. The new magazine was broader in scope and featured more national and international philatelic news, without forgetting Confederates. The New Southern Philatelist continued for four more years until it passed with the final issue in October 1933. No reason was given for, but there was a single line at the bottom of one of the pages that made it clear Dietz was going to continue his publishing career. It said,”We will meet again, in “Stamp and Cover Collecting,” next month.
The following month, November 1933, Stamp and Cover Collecting made its debut. It was a larger physical size but continued the editorial policies of its predecessor, although later an effort was made to include items of a more studious nature. After three volumes Dietz was ready to close the magazine. At the last minute Dietz changed his mind and continued the magazine as the quarterly Stamp and Cover Collectors Review.
Stamp and Cover Collectors Review made its debut in January 1937. It continued through 1939 when Dietz finally decided to close his publishing career.
This did not last long and in early 1940 he began publishing the Confederate Bulletin. This was what Dietz called a leaflet and was aimed at keeping Confederate collectors up to date on new finds in the field. It was also aimed at members of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, who had no journal at the time. After 27 issues, appearing irregularly from 1940 to 1952 Dietz finally closed his philatelic publishing career.
For more information on the individual publications click the titles below: