In France the registered letter was established in 1829 with a stamp framed R and in Prussia in 1849 with a stamp "RECOMMANDIRT". It is in occupied Alsace-Lorraine that the Prussian postal administration launched the experiment of the recommendation labels in October 1870. The test lasted a few years, before being generalized to all German post offices in 1875. A few years later, the General Postal Union universally adopted these labels. Even today, a century and a half later, they are still used in many countries, although they are gradually disappearing with the new computer tools.

Philippe Boutserin's book analyzes the different types of labels: tight lace frame ("Enge Schlingen"), wide lace ("Weite Schlingen"), meandering ("Mit Mäander"), "stylized", ivy leaf ("Efeublätter") or "straight frame".

The old registered letters attract collectors, especially the most ancient ones, dated 1870-1871 when franked with occupation stamps. Indeed, only a few dozen letters are known as of today, from 40 post offices in Alsace-Lorraine. For about thirty postal offices, these are unique pieces. The study of registered letters requires a good knowledge of postal rates and the evolution of postage, originally in centimes, then in groschen and finally in pfennige. This work provides the essential information on the subject as well as a catalog of all the registered letters known as of the date of publication.

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