Return to Mantova - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, featured weekly on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with this one (the most recent always shows up at the top). 

The city of Mantova (Mantua) has captured my imagination enough to encourage me to pick up items addressed to or from that location more than any other Italian city.  In fact, postal history to this city was the focus of a Postal History Sunday a little over one year ago.  And, we're actually going to start with one of the two items featured in that post.

My goal this time around is to illustrate many of the ways I like to look at cover and the different directions this takes the overall story.  We'll start with this item mailed in Espalion, France on November 19, 1855.  The letter had five 20 centime postage stamps representing 1 franc of postage paid.  As of July 1, 1851, the rate for mailing a piece of letter mail, weighing no more than 7.5 grams, to Mantova via Sardinia or Switzerland was 1 franc (100 centimes).  So, we've got ourselves a properly paid letter here.

The Address Panel

An interesting thing about letter mail is that there can be a very wide variety in the way the letter is addressed.  The combination of language differences, handwriting differences, and postal regulations/procedures can certainly make interpreting what is there a bit more difficult.  The address panel for the envelope shown above reads as follows:

"Italie  Monsieur Monsieur L Sartoretti avocat  A' Mantoue  Royaume Lombardo Venitieu, par Clermont Lyon et Turin"

There is a wealth of information here - as well as some interesting points of discussion.

"Italie" and "Royaume Lombardo Venitieu"

Even though Lombardy and Venetia were under the control of Austria, people clearly still identified these regions as part of Italy.  In fact, the region of Lombardy and Venetia was semi-autonomous and was identified as a "kingdom" (royaume) though it was under the control of Austria's emperor Franz Josef I from 1849 to 1859 (until 1866 for Venetia).

 

The borders shown above in a period map illustrate where Mantova is - located in the southeast portion of Lombardy. The the south is the Italian state of Parma and Romagne, which was part of the Papal States at the time this letter was sent.

"Monsieur Monsieur L Sartoretti avocat"

I have noticed the double honorific "Monsieur" on many business letters in Europe during this period.  While I have not been able to verify this (in part because I don't have enough motivation to hunt it down), this could be a bit like saying "Honored Sir, Mr. L Sartoretti."  This double honorific does not seem to be consistently applied during the 1850s and 1860s and it seems to decline in use as mail services become more available to a larger portion of the population.

Mr. Louis Sartoretti was a lawyer (avocat) in Mantova who apparently kept his correspondences, which was normal as these served as records for his business.  At some point in time, the covers from these records were made available to collectors since I have not one, but two envelopes that had been sent to him in the 1850s.

"par Clermont Lyon et Turin"

Not only was there addressing information to show the postal services who the letter was to and where they were located, the writer even included directions as to how they intended the letter to travel.  We'll see how that worked out later on!

"A' Mantoue"

I was introduced to this city as "Mantua" which is the Latin or Lombard name.  So, to those of us in the US, it would be "at Mantua."  The Italian language references it as "Mantova" and the French - "Mantoue."  A similar pattern can be seen for the Italian city of Padova/Padua/Padoue.  This is just another variable we have to deal with as we read a cover.  Different languages have different spellings and pronunciations for various cities and countries.  If you add the possibility that the person writing it doesn't know how to spell well, things can get interesting fast!

How it Got There

The markings on this cover are as follows:

Espalion Nov 19, 1855
Clermont-Ferrand Nov 20
Clermont A Paris Nov 20
Lyon Nov 21
Lyon A Marseille Nov 21
Marseille Nov 22
Mantova Nov 27

It seems that the routing indicated by the writer was followed - at least as far as going through Clermont and Lyon are concerned.  There is no marking to confirm Turin, but, that would have been the most common route after crossing the Alps for a destination in Lombardy from southern France (Marseille).  So, it is highly likely the entire route was followed as suggested.

Another option, would have been to travel next to the sea and go up from Genoa to Turin.  But, there is no evidence that can support that on the letter.  Typically dockets that gave directions were followed.  If no directions were given, postal services would have identified default routes that mail between nations would take.  They would deviate from the default if directional dockets were present OR if there were obstructions, such as weather or armed conflict, that would temporarily change the route to an alternative.

So, let's take a look at where these markings say the letter traveled.  To see a larger version, click on the map.

At the time this letter was written, there was no rail service in or near Espalion.  However, there WAS a rail terminus in Clermont-Ferrand that connected to one of the very rare rail lines that did not go only to Paris.  France was rapidly developing a 'star configuration' of rail lines with Paris at the center.  Often, if someone wanted to travel from west to east in southern France, they were often left with only the option to go via Paris!

This letter likely traveled by mail coach to Clermont-Ferrand, where they had a brand new train station.  One has to wonder if there was some amount of excitement that this option for mail now existed that might have caused the writer to be so explicit in these routing directions.

The letter was able to travel by train from Clermont-Ferrand to Lyon and then by train to Marseille.  From Marseille, it was back to the mail coach to go northeast to Gap and to cross the alps until meeting up with a railway spur west of Turin.

Why aren't their postmarks for points between Marseille and Mantova?

This is a great question.  After all, wouldn't it be neat to be able to trace this letter even more accurately?  We assume it was carried through Turin (Torino), so why isn't there a marking for that city here?

It turns out Marseille and Mantova were exchange post offices. Exchange offices were post offices in each country that were identified as being able to exchange mail between those two nations.  Marseille and Mantova could exchange mail, which essentially means they would place the last marking on the letter prior to putting it into the mailbag (or other container), not to be opened until reaching the exchange office in the destination country.  

So, that's why there aren't any markings for places in between the two.  The letter was sealed up in a mailbag in Marseille.  The mailbag was marked to be for Mantova.  That meant it would not be opened until the clerk in the Mantova post office received it.

Another Letter to Louis Sartoretti, avocat

This is another envelope from the correspondence saved by our Mantovan lawyer friend.  Since, neither of the items in my collection have contents or provide any indication as to who sent these pieces of letter mail, I am not able to determine if these were private or business correspondence.  However, odds are good that they are the latter.  

This address panel reads:

"Monsieur Louis Sartoretti avocat a Mantoue, Daun(?) Lombardie-Venitie (italie)"

If you look at the prior envelope, you might notice a number of differences.  First, there is only one use of the honorific "Monsieur."  Second, the sender did not see fit to provide any postal instructions for directing this letter.

And third, there is the mysterious "Daun" that follows Mantoue.  Of course, it is possible I am reading the letters incorrectly.  It could be a shorthand reference to something else.  It is also possible that the writer misspelled something.   At this point in time, I have no idea.  It appears to have some sort of significance in naming a region - but I cannot be sure at this time.

So, what was I saying about handwriting, mispellings and different languages sometimes making it hard to decipher an address?

Um... You Need to Pay More than That!

As we mentioned in the prior post, the cost to mail an item through Sardinia to Lombardy from France was 1 franc (100 centimes).  This rate applied for pre-paid mail as well as unpaid mail.  However, there was no provision to provide credit for partially paid mail.  Therefore, part paid mail was treated as unpaid at the destination.

This item bears only a 20 centime stamp, clearly not enough to do the job.  The hand-written "timbres insuffisant" can be translated to "insufficiently stamped."  That, and the absence of a "P.D." marking made it clear that this item was not pre-paid.  You might also notice that the front of the cover does not have a big, bold "X" like the first item had.  That "X" told the carrier that no postage was due from the recipient.  Without the "X" the carrier knew to look for how much they were to collect before handing over the letter.

In this case,Monsieur Sartoretti was forced to pay 25 kreuzer - the full price that it would cost for him to mail a letter to Montpellier, France - just to receive this letter and find out what was in it!

The scribbles shown above actually DO mean something.  As most people would guess, the "25" at lower right is the due marking, instructing the carrier or clerk to collect 25 kreuzer to pay for the mail services from France to Lombardy via Sardinia.  The smudged scribble on the left reads "16/9."   

Yeah.  I know.  It seems like some sort of voodoo magic when I tell you a scrawl on one of these old envelopes means something.  It is possible that many of you saw that and figured someone was trying to draw a picture of a bird in a tree and gave it up as a bad job.  This is one of those times you might have to trust that I know what I'm doing.  Give it time.  After a while, you'll start seeing scribbles in your sleep.  Soon after that you should be able to see what I am seeing.

We'll all have to decide at that point whether that is a good or a bad thing.

The amount of postage collected was 25 kreuzer, of which 9 kreuzer covered the Austrian postage (the lower number).  The remaining 16 kreuzer needed to be given to the French and Sardinian mail services.  Of those 16 kreuzer, the French received 12 kr and the Sardinians 4 kr.   

As for the 20 centime stamp?  Well, it really did not do anything, in the end.  This was not an uncommon occurrence at the time.  Postage stamps were first introduced in France in 1849 and the idea of full prepayment for letters and using stamps to represent that payment was still kind of new. 

Simply put, people didn't always understand what they were supposed to do.

Getting from Here to There

The markings on this cover:

Montpellier Feb 9, 1857
Marseille Feb 10
Gap Feb 11
Mantova Feb 13
Arrta Di Notte (Night Arrival)

The travel time for this letter was much shorter than it was for the other letter we show at the top of the post.  However, the square marking on the back (Arrta di Notte) indicated that the letter did arrive during the night time hours.  So, we have to ask the question - was it very late on the 13th that it arrived or very early on the 13th?  At the present time, I do not know.

So, this could have arrived one day faster or almost two days faster than the last item.

Here is the map from the prior post with a small addition showing the route from Montpellier to the rail line from Lyon to Marseille.  This section was covered by a railway at the time this letter was posted in 1857 (Montpellier to Nimes should have been completed by the end of 1856).

Once in Marseille, this piece of mail likely followed the same route that the first letter did, heading up to Gap and then Besancon - on the way to Turin.  Only, this time, we have evidence that it went this way because there is a postal marking for Gap.  Most of this part of the route would still have been by mail coach until it reached the rail spur west of Turin.

And this time, Gap and Mantova served as the exchange offices.

Shown above is a portion of an 1855 map that clearly showed the rail lines running from Turin to Milan then Verona and a spur down to Mantua.  While Italy was behind much of Europe for rail development, these major northern cities were connected.

And there you are, two letters mailed to the same lawyer in Mantova about a year and a half apart.  Similar routes at the same postage rate - but with enough differences that we can tell very different stories with each of them.

In recognition of people with different levels of understanding

I am always hopeful that I can write Postal History Sunday in a way that all levels of interest in postal history might have a chance to read, understand and enjoy what is shared here.  Obviously, I don't expect any of you to take a test now that we are at this point in the blog - that has never been the point of this.  But... I also want each of you to feel you have an opportunity to understand what is written here.  

Sometimes, I try to remind you of concepts and terms in the middle of the description, but I know that can get tedious for the reader at times.  This week, I am going to do something different.  Let's see how it works!

1. How did the postal clerk or carrier know a letter was fully prepaid?  In the case of our first letter, there was a big bold "X" on the front.  This Postal History Sunday (PHS) shows you other ways payment was indicated on a letter during this time period. 

2. If you feel as if it wasn't entirely fair that our lawyer friend had to pay so much for the 2nd letter, even though the sender put SOME postage on it, let me tell you it could get much worse.  This PHS entry gives you some examples of how this system worked and exactly how bad it could get!

3. And we talk about the directional dockets on the first letter shown today.  In this case, the directional dockets were part of the address.  This PHS shows us several more examples of dockets and might help you understand their purposes a bit better.

And, what if you're someone who already knows all of the terms and concepts?  Well, a while back I started a list of the different postal conventions France had with other nations.  Maybe some of this information will help you with your own search for information?

Thank you again for joining me as I share things that I do enjoy.  I hope you have a good remainder of your day and an excellent week to come!