The period between the two world wars in Alsace and Moselle includes some specific features which are of interest to postal history researchers. The postal parcels regime is one of the illustrative examples. Indeed, while the transport of parcels in France was privatized since 1797, it remained the privilege of the postal administration in the German states. When Alsace-Lorraine returned to France in 1919, one of the legacies of the annexation was that the postal administration retained the transport of parcels, while in the rest of France parcels were handled by the railway companies.

This work attempts to review this subject by restoring the context and by analyzing the use and the numerous mentions, labels and stamps affixed to the forms. The consulting of archives, not only local but also national, and the systematic analysis of the only important instruction on this regime, have allowed the author to make a most extensive analysis. The discovery of unpublished administrative documents, in Colmar as well as in Strasbourg, has answered several questions about the existence of some unusual postages during the period studied.

See also the book on PP-Labels for parcels with pre-paid shipping

Work published by the Academie de Philatélieand distributed by SPAL

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