George Townsend Turner (February 11, 1906 – August 14, 1979) of Washington, D.C., was considered a leading philatelic bibliophile of his era, amassing a very large body of philatelic literature over his lifetime.
[1] Turner was particularly interested in United States revenue stamps and became an expert on the subject, publishing in 1974 "Essays and Proofs of United States Internal Revenue Stamps: A Compilation with Relative Prices.
"[1] Turner collected books and other periodicals and catalogs of philatelic literature and purchased large libraries of philatelic books, including the library of revenue collector William Carlos Stone, as well as the immense library of William Reynolds Ricketts.
At the American Philatelic Society he was appointed to the board of directors; at the Smithsonian Institution he was the curator of philatelic collections; and, at the Bureau Issues Association (now the United States Stamp Society), he was the research philatelist.
The majority of Turner's massive library was bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution where it now resides at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.