Viner was quoted as saying in 1889: "I remember counting my stamps with much glee when they reached a hundred."

Cancelled specimens were principally seen; but I can recall one collection rich in unused Naples, Sicily, Tuscany and other Italian States purchased at their several post-offices by a young traveller.

"[6] Viner assisted Mount Brown in compiling his catalogue and edited Stamp Collector's Magazine for four years from 1863 where supplements to Brown's catalogue were published and which included numerous contributions by Viner.

The pages of the magazine contain a number of spirited but good-humoured exchanges between Viner and Adelaide Lucy Fenton, another early philatelist.

In 1865 Viner became compiler of Edward Oppen's Postage Stamp Album and Catalogue and produced 24 editions up to 1891.