Good morning!
I should greatly appreciate information regarding this card from St. Petersburg to Helsinki.
- It is a card from a book store ordering (in Swedish) a book. The card as such: is it a "printed matter" or a "book order"? In Finland there was a special rate for book orders on such cards, perhaps this is a similar thing?
- The red stamp says "To Finland". Were there other similar stamps for other destinations? Common or uncommon?
All the best from a gray and rainy Stockholm!
Pixie
If you mean "Are there other cachets placed on items of mail coming from Russia" then the answer is yes, there are.
The cachet in this case was applied so that Russian speaking postal sorters knew where to send the card.
Printed Matter, Book Post, generally most 19th century postal agencies of the time treated these as one and the same. The exception being the upper weight limit which was greater for books.
As to how common or not this cachet is I cannot say.
regards
Nigel
Hello Pixie.
a) It's a printed matter rate. There was no special rate for bookorders.
b) These "To Finland" postmarks are from the SPB Head Post Office. They are used on mails to finland on which the address was written not in Russian.
The "To Finland" marks are not realy common. But also not exeptional rare. Never the less, on your card the Finland mark is the feature of value.
If you would find someone specialized in collecting such items, it would probably of interest to him, since the strike should be blue and not red as on your card.
As far as I know, all other marks showing the name of the destination country are of privat nature.
If you like to know: It's catalog # D+R 09-08-03
Thank you, Nigel
no, I did not mean the cachets on the mail coming from Russia; I mean the cachets on the mail going out from Russia "to X" in russian, as you said, probably "applied so that Russian speaking postal sorters knew where to send the card. "
and no, I did not mean book parcels.
What I meant is "Bulletin de commande de librarie" - I have such a card sent in 1907 from Finland to Sweden. (I understand that this is an UPU arrangement?)
The question then is "is this a 'printed matter' -card or a Bulletin de commande de librarie?"
cf
best
Pixie
Thank you ever so much, Lacplesis!
(I was struggling with my reply to Nigel while your remarks were posted).
I am very pleased, because this item will be integrated in my postal history collection - so I will not offer it for sale.
Although I do not collect Russia I am very sad to hear your news about the Russia collecting community. Had I started my own collection much earlier I would have considered Imperial Russia a definitive area. Still much of Finland's postal history is more or less tied to events in Russia and there is no way of understanding developments in Finland without understanding that.
Best
Pixie
There was an arrangement under the auspices of the UPU regarding the sending of books (educational material).
Some countries incorporated this in their postal regulations others did not. It was not compulsory.
regards
Nigel
Russia did not. Otherwise I would have seen it mentioned somewhere in literature.
Some countries incorporated this in their postal regulations others did not. It was not compulsory.
mfG
Nigel
Lacplesis and Nigel
Many thanks!
Every piece of information is very valuable.
