Walker's "sulphuretted peroxide strikables" and other matches of the early 19th century shared a serious problem:  they were dangerous.  Those based on white phosphorus were poisonous and made people sick; others had a nasty habit of igniting on their own at inconvenient times.  It was Gustaf Erik Pasch, a Swedish chemistry professor who invented the safety match, and Johan Edvard Lundström of Jönköping, Sweden, who refined it, patented it, and began to mass produce it.  The Swedish safety match uses nonpoisonous red phosphorus on the match head and a strip of sandpaper on the outside of the box.  These matches, the most common type in use today, light only when struck against that sandpaper strip.  Sweden quickly became the world leader in production of matches, a position it still holds today.  Although the match industry is being challenged by the lighter, safety matches deserve an important place in the history of technology over the past 150 years.

Links:
= highly recommended

The Match Museum in Jönköping, Sweden (match capital of the world), the only (non-virtual) museum in the world devoted exclusively to matches.  The site is available in English, German, and Swedish.

Fredrik Karlsson's site about matches.  Karlsson, an avid collector of Swedish matches, has interesting information about the history of matches, pictures of some of his matchbox labels, and more.  See, also, the links on the portion of his site devoted to the British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society.

History of matches, on "The Great Idea Finder" site.

World War II French Resistance Propaganda Matchbook -- information on how to derail a train.

The Tanaka Match Company Match Museum -- pictures of matchboxes.  (In Japanese)

Notes on the Norwegian match industry before 1900, by Olav Wetting, translated from the Norwegian by Brita Hess.

Dagfinn Refseth's page on phillumeny (collecting matchbox labels).  Includes many links and pictures of labels from Russia, Africa, and other parts of the world, in addition to the Scandinavian countries.

"Who Invented Matches?" on About.com.

"Match World," from Fazal Sons Match Industries (Pvt) Ltd in Pakistan, makers of "Hockey," Pakistan's most popular brand for the last 16 years.  How matches are made and sold today.

"The Safety Match Industry in India," a case study by J. C. Tandon.

Redheads -- an Australian company that makes matches, as well as products to clean your barbie after you've cooked the shrimp.

The International Match Safe Association and Museum (a match safe is a metal box used to hold match boxes, keep them dry, etc.)

Beyond matches:  Zippo Manufacturing Company.  Arguably the world's most famous maker of cigarette lighters.  Certainly the coolest web site.  In case you missed it, July 20, 2001 was National Zippo Day in the U.S.

Miscellaneous match stuff:
      Matchbox Toys. 
      "The Little Match Seller," by Hans Christian Anderson.
      Match.com (online computer dating service).
      Paris Match magazine.
      Petmatch.com (computer dating service for lonely pets).
      The Match-Box Server (a tool for molecular biologists to study proteins).
      Match (Communications in Mathematical Match and Computer Chemistry,a journal).
      IPic -- a match-head sized web server.