Internal Letter Rates: France

The Project

This is part of a much larger project where I am attempting to learn about the internal letter rates for the European countries.  While I tend to focus on the 1860's, I realize that it makes sense to explore a bit around the 'edges' so I can get a better understanding of not just 'how' things were done, but also 'why' things came out the way they did. 

Last Edit: Nov 16, 2019

Topic Organization

     1. Prepaid internal letter mail that did not qualify for the the local discounted rates. 
     2. Local rates, including the special Parisian rates.  By May 1, 1878 all internal rates were the same, with no further discounts for local delivery. 
     3. Different rates applied to unpaid (and short paid) mail.  Up until April 15, 1892, there existed a different base letter rate for mail that was not fully prepaid.
     4. A very brief section outlining French history during this period and the correlation to the stamps issued during this time.

**Prepaid Letter Rates**

Prepaid Internal Letter Rates for France

Date	1st Rate	up to	2nd Rate	up to	3rd Rate	up to	Additional	Per
Jan 1, 1849	0,20	7.5g	0,40	15g	1,00	100g	1,00	100g
Jul 1, 1850	0,25	7.5g	0,50	15g	1,00	100g	1,00	100g
Jul 1, 1854	0,20	7.5g	0,40	15g	0,80	100g	0,80	100g
Jan 1, 1862	0,20	10g	0,40	20g	0,80	100g	0,80	100g
Sep 1, 1871	0,25	10g	0,40	20g	0,70	50g	0,50	50g
Jan 1, 1876	0,25	15g	0,50	30g	0,75	50g	0,50	50g
May 1, 1878	0,15	15g	-	-	-	-	0,15	15g
Apr 16, 1906			-	-	-	-

Rates expressed in francs and centimes.  1,20 would be 1 franc, 20 centimes

As of May 1, 1878, rates followed a standard progression of 15 centimes per 15 grams

Unpaid mail and local mail rates differ from this table

It is so easy to assume that a postal rate is a constant rate per some unit of weight or distance.  However, the French rating system illustrates a standard business reality - every piece of mail is going to have a base set of costs, even if it is very light.  However, it takes a significant multiple of the base weight for the actual costs to the postal service to increase in a real sense.  Therefore, a 7.5 gram item in 1851 cost 25 centimes to mail while an item that weighed about 14 times that base would only cost 4 times more (1 franc) to mail.  The hard part for a postal historian is trying to remember the breakdowns up to the third rate - not really a terrible trial at all if you enjoy what you are doing.

**July 1, 1850 - June 30, 1854**

First Rate Increment 25 centimes up to 7.5 grams

Libourne - Mar 6, 1852 Coutras - Mar 7, 1852 (verso)

Most letters surviving now from the 1800's were business correspondence, government correspondence or personal letters between members of the elite class.  At right is the contents of the item above.  This is a typical ledger that would be exchanged between business entities of the time, summarizing debits and credits between the two parties (the sender and the recipient).

I have heard it argued that the literacy rate would be the primary reason for the lack of personal correspondence between members of the rest of the population.  However, research shows that more of the general populace of France were literate than one might assume.  It is my belief that the lack of personal correspondence between the majority of the populace lies simply with lower personal mobility.  In short, the people most individuals would want to correspond with were near enough to be spoken to.  Even so, one also has to consider the fact that mailed items would need to be kept well enough so that collectors would be willing to hold on to letters such as these.  Businesses and governments had reasons to carefully file and store correspondence.  The elite, on the other hand, had the means and the inclination to save such things.  The rest of the population?  They probably re-used paper - even if that re-use was to start a fire on a chilly night.

**July 1, 1854 - December 31, 1861**

First Rate Increment 20 centimes up to 7.5 grams

Nantes A Paris  - Mar 5, 1859 NP in diamond Brest  - Mar 7, 1859 (verso)

Railway Markings
France developed a rail network that was initially designed with most lines going through Paris in a 'star' configuration.  France also used the rail system as a critical part of the mail service, employing traveling post offices to process mail en route.  The Nantes A Paris circular stamp, in combination with the "NP" inside the lozenge (diamond shaped) marking indicates that this item was processed on the train that ran the route between these two cities.  Typically, the ordering of the terminal stations for a route indicated the direction the train was traveling when the mail was processed.  The letter at the bottom of the circle (an "E" in this case) indicated which 'brigade' of clerks processed this particular item.  Apparently, the Nantes to Paris ambulant office had at least five brigades of clerks to handle mail.

Second Rate Increment 40 centimes over 7.5 grams and up to 15 grams

Le Neubourg Dec 11, 1856 O in circle Evreux Dec 12, 1856 Prefecture de L’eure Arrive           Dec 12 (verso in red)

Prefecture de L'eure
Eure is in the Normandy region and Evreux was prefecture of the department.  Evreux's population was around 12,000 people in 1856 while Le Neubourg was (and remains) much more rural in nature.  Le Neubourg is to the northwest of Evreux approximately 27 km.

Rural Mail Boxes
The "O" in circle marking was applied by a rural carrier using a mail box handstamp.

Many rural villages did not have their own post offices, Le Neubourg among them.  However, mail boxes were provided for residents in the area to drop mail.  The mail carrier would remove mail from the box and apply a hand stamp to each item which consisted of an initial in a circle.  The hand stamp was kept in the mailbox and was placed back in the box after each use.  These markings were introduced in 1836 and were in service until being completed phased out in 1912.

Second Rate Increment 40 centimes over 7.5 grams and up to 15 grams

Mirambeau  Mar 10, 1861 Saintes  Mar 10, 1861 (verso) Rochefort-s-Mer  Mar 11, 1861 (verso)

Mirambeau and Rochefort sur Mer are located in southwest France near the Atlantic Ocean.  Both are located North of Bordeaux.  Distance between Mirambeau and Rochefort is approximately 90 km.  Considering many European nations still used distance as part of the rate calculation in the mid-1800's, it is interesting to note that France did not do so beginning in 1849.  The only exception to this were the local mail rates discussed later in this post.

**January 1, 1862 - August 31, 1871**

First Rate Increment 20 centimes up to 10 grams

Guebwiller Sep 8, 1863 1726 in diamond Bale A Paris Sep 8, 1863 (verso)           (Bale = Basel, Switzerland) Paris Sep 9 (verso)

Guebwiller is located in the Upper Rhine region and is northwest of Basel and Mulhouse.

Numerical Lozenge Postmarks
France issued diamond-shaped (lozenge) postmarks with specific numerals for certain towns, in this case "1726" for Guebwiller.   Some of the higher four-digit markings indicated French foreign or external offices.  Many collectors are known to appreciate this area as a specialty with some people telling me that they collect the numbers more than the stamps.

First Rate Increment 20 centimes up to 10 grams

Paris Place de la Bourse May 11, 1867      1 (star cancel) Compagnie L’Union D’Assurances      (label affixed to hold letter closed) Paris A Bale May 11, 1867 (verso) Colmar May 12, 1867 (verso)

Colmar is located in the Haut-Rhin department near the current border between France and Germany.  Ceded to France in 1679, Colmar was part of the Alsace province given (along with the Lorraine Province) to the German Empire in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War. It was returned to France by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and then annexed by Hitler in 1940.  It was again retained by France in 1945 at the end of World War II.

Third Rate Increment 80 centimes over 20 grams and up to 100 grams

Paris Rue De Clery July 8, 1867 Paris A Bordeaux Jul 8 (verso) Bordeaux Jul 9 (verso)

The red handstamp on the back of the envelope is a company marking that reads "Claude Lafontaine, H.Prevost, Martinet & Cie, Paris."

It is interesting to note the things various nations decided to track on a given piece of mail and the other pieces of information they neglected to track or give evidence to.  France seemed very concerned about showing where a piece of mail traveled as it went from place to place.  They were also concerned with tracking who processed the mail (brigade markings) and when things were done.  If there were delays, they wanted it known that it was or was not part of the postal process (as evidenced by Apres Le Depart markings).  However, there seems to be little concern with illustrating the weight increment that led to the given rate.

 Third Rate Increment 80 centimes over 20 grams and up to 100 grams

Tarbes Feb 1, 1866 3906 diamond cancellation Apres Le Depart (applied in Tarbes) Auch Feb 2, 1866 Auch Feb 3, 1866

Tarbes is located in the Upper Pyranees in southwestern France, not far from Lourdes.  Auch is about 75 km to the northest of Tarbes.  Another interesting item from Tarbes is featured in this post about the Price of Bread.  That item is an example of the first rate level during this period.

Apres Le Depart: The French “Apres le Depart” marking would be the equivalent to the “Too Late” markings found in the United States during this time.  These markings were used to indicate that the item arrived at the originating post office after the scheduled mail conveyance (train, ship, coach, etc) had left.  The marking served as an explanation to the recipient as to the relative slowness of the mail.

**September 1, 1871 - December 31, 1876**

First Rate Increment 25 centimes up to 10 grams

La Roche-S-Yon 2e  Mar 5, 1875 99      Mar 5, 1875  (Angers)

La Roche-Sur-Yon is in Western France, not far from the Atlantic Ocean and Angers is inland to the northeast (about 130 km).  Trelaze would now qualify as a suburb located East of Angers.

Bureau de Passe:
First instituted in 1864, twenty-five offices were placed at key railway junction stations for sorting and dispatching mail.  The Bureau de Passe number was situated at the top of the double circle marking (99 - Angers) and the department number was at the bottom in parens (47 - Maine et Loire).

J. Monnier Seeds:
This item was a pre-addressed order form likely from a seed catalogue distributed by J. Monnier and Company.  Apparently, J Monnier had some prominence in the industry rating a reference by a Sacramento, California seedsman in 1874.  At this time, seed production and sales was a business that was pursued by many throughout the world.  Even, the largest seed companies did not control the market as they do in recent times.  In fact, a selling point that was often used was to point out that seed developed locally would be adapted to the local climate and conditions, just as Strong does in the advertisement shown here.

Second Rate Increment 40 centimes 10 to 20 grams

Le Mans Mar 26, 1874 Couptrain Mar 27 (verso)

The French internal rates reward heavier mailings with a lower weight per gram as one advances through the rate increments, starting at 2.5 centimes per gram in the first rate and ending at 1 centime per gram for weights that enter the 3rd rate and beyond.

Third Rate Increment 70 centimes 20 to 50 grams

Orleans May 12, 1873 Paris A ? (verso) Toulo? (verso) Cosne May 13, 1873 (verso)

As should be expected, the number of third rate increment covers are less common, but nonetheless not hard to find for low cost, especially in rougher condition and with less desirable adhesives.  Putting this in perspective, a typical A4 sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch modern-day paper weighs about 5 grams.  So, technically, two such sheets would still work for a single rate internal letter in France at the time.

Sometimes, evidence of the original weight of the letter is provided by a docket written by a postal authority.  That does not appear to be the case here and seems to be uncommon with French mail of the period.

The contents that remain with this particular business correspondence certainly do not meet the definition of a 20 to 50 gram item.  However, business correspondence usually had enclosures that would raise the weight of the item. 

It is likely that there were corresponding receipts or other papers that coincide with the line items on the form and the form was used as the cover for those contents.  It has been suggested that money might have been sent, but I feel the overall value stated here would be excessive for regular mails and the sender would more likely use postal registration services.  I am, however, open to discussion of this point and evidence that might point me to a different conclusion.

**May 1, 1878 - April 15, 1906**

Letter Rate 15 centimes per 15 grams

Cote de Caen Calvados Jan 25, 1880 Caen Calvados Jan 25, 1880      par Bayeux Port-en-Bessin Jan 26, 1880

Port-en-Bessin is not far East of Omaha Beach and was a small fishing port/village of about 1000 people in the 1880's.  Both are in the Calvados department and Caen is the prefecture of the department.  Port-en-Bessin is approximately 40 km northwest of Caen.

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**Local Letter Rates**

Table to be added at a later point in time.

**Jan 1, 1863 - Aug 31, 1871**

Local Letter First Rate 10 centimes up to 10 grams

Rouen Jan 23, 1867      3219 in diamond Rouen Jan 24, 1867

My primary interest in postal history is mail between nations, so it is no surprise that I do not seek out many local mail examples unless they actually cross a nation-state's borders.  This is what I have for now and I may add the local mail table at the point I add an example from another time period.  Until then, go to the Richardson book cited in the bibliography.

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**Unpaid Letter Rates**

Unpaid and Short Paid Internal Letter Rates for France

Date	1st Rate	up to	2nd Rate	up to	3rd Rate	up to	Additional	Per
Jan 1, 1849 -a	0,20*	7.5g	0,40*	15g	1,00*	100g	1,00*	100g
Jul 1, 1850  -a	0,25*	7.5g	0,50*	15g	1,00*	100g	1,00*	100g
Jul 1, 1854  -b	0,30	7.5g	0,60	15g	1,20	100g	1,20	100g
Jan 1, 1862  -b	0,30	10g	0,60	20g	1,20	100g	1,20	100g
Sep 1, 1871  -b	0,40	10g	0,60	20g	1,00	50g	0,75	50g
Jan 1, 1876  -b	0,40	15g	0,80	30g	1,20	50g	0,75	50g
May 1, 1878  -b	0,30	15g	-	-	-	-	0,30	15g
Apr 16, 1892 -c			-	-	-	-

* - unpaid rate same as prepaid rate

Beginning in 1854, the rate for unpaid mail differs from the prepaid letter rate.  This reflects the desire of the French post office to move from collecting postal fees at the point of delivery.  The rules for calculating the due amount have changed over time.  The date column includes a letter that matches the mechanism for determining the amount due.

a- Amount of Deficiency Due
For example, a letter that weighed enough to be charged for a 2nd rate, but was only paid for the 1st rate would have required 40 centimes, but only 20 centimes were paid.  The recipient would pay the amount of the difference (40 - 20 = 20 centimes).
b- Amount of Deficiency Due Based on Unpaid Rate
Using the same example - a 2nd rate letter (40 centimes) only being paid for the 1st rate (20 centimes) would be rated at the unpaid letter rate after July, 1854 (60 centimes).  The deficiency between that rate and the amount paid would be calculated and be made due by the recipient (60 - 20 = 40 centimes).
c- Amount of Deficiency Doubled and Rounded Up to Nearest 5 centimes
Using the example of a double weight letter (30 centimes) that was paid only for a single weight (15 centimes) after April 16, 1892, we would double the deficiency (30 - 15 = 15, 15 x 2 = 30 centimes).  The rounding function seems to be moot for this particular rate.

**A (Very) Brief Summary of Period French and French Stamp History**
This period of French philately reflects both the political history of France in a time of upheaval as well as a postal history of complex and changing rates and routes as railways were developed in the country.

The Second Republic of France was established in 1848 when the people overthrew King Louis-Phillipe and elected Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte president of the new republic.  France became a stamp-issuing country the following year with adhesives depicting Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility.  The top of these stamps was inscribed “Repub Franc.”

Louis Napoleon and the National Assembly disagreed with each other more than they agreed.  Napoleon dissolved the National Assembly and replaced it with members that supported his policies and ambitions.  In accordance with recently passed law, a new issue with President Louis Napoleon and “Repub Franc” was issued in 1852.

Soon thereafter, an imbalanced referendum confirmed that France was no longer a republic.  Napoleon III, Emperor of France was now depicted on all stamp issues as of 1853.  “Empire Franc” was inscribed at the top of this issue. Official perforations of this design were issued in 1862.  This design was modified to include a laurel wreath on Napoleon's head in 1863.

Napoleon III was captured by Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War in September of 1870 and the war ended with the successful siege of Paris in early 1871.  Stamp issues returned to depicting Ceres and showing the “Repub Franc” inscription.  An early version of the design was printed in Bordeaux (1870) while Paris was still under siege.

Bordeaux Printing of Ceres Issue showing 20 centime rate of 1862

Lille Jun 6, 1871      2046 in diamond Agen Jun 8, 1871

The Bordeaux lithography printings are an area of study in and of themselves.  The twenty centime adhesive is known to have three types, with this particular example being the third (as near as I can tell - not being an expert on this issue) which was printed in 1871.

Resources:
Richardson, Derek J, "Tables of French Postal Rates 1849-2011," 4th ed, France and Colonies Philatelic Society of Great Britain, 2011.
     If you are looking for a wider range of rates, they can be found here as long as they are not rates dictated by postal convention prior to the General Postal Union of 1875.  But, the internal rates are well covered.  This work is in English.  The convenience of not having to translate and the likelihood that Richardson's work is sufficiently accurate for my intents and purposes make this a good resource.

Lesgor, Raoul, "The cancellations on French stamps of the classic issues, 1849-1876", Nassau Stamp Co, NY, 1948.
There is also an article appended to this book by Robert Meade Stone on Maritime Posts.  It is unclear to me if all editions included this portion.  The book is a reasonable overview for a person such as myself who has little background in French postal markings.  However, it has the weakness that many of the earlier postal markings books had that they focused too carefully on just cataloging the various designs, but often fail to put those markings fully into a postal history context.  There are certainly many additional works that go into more detail in various subtopics, such as traveling post offices, but this one suffices to get a person started.