To collect stamps or to be interested in philately is to follow one's interest for the sake of knowledge and study, which lends it a status apart from it being a hobby like any other; in which guise it offers distraction and satisfies a desire for possession as functions with which we are not concerned here. Yet, obviously, the postage stamp must come before all else - collected, studied and categorised in all its aspects.

That, however, is not enough and, as early as the end of the last century, an intensive study had already begun of post offices and the increase and decrease in their activity over the years. This included the study of various cancellations used by these offices and, as a consequence, led to the examination of covers for their stamp-cancellation combination, and in turn led to the covers themselves being regarded as something to be studied and collected. Is this a more advanced form of collecting or merely a form of collecting only slightly different in kind to that which had gone before? It depends on one's point of view. The fact is that this kind of collecting imposes a greater discipline on the collector, a wider vision and a knowledge of places and history that is not necessary for the simple collection of mint or used postage stamps with their varieties.

All this vast field of knowledge and research cannot be incorporated into one single standardised work but is sectionally divided, generally geo-politically, with sub-divisions chronologically according to some predetermined scheme or, alternatively, by some particular use of a more widely used cancellation or postmark. After 80 or 90 years of study and research directed at this area there can be very little left to the imagination. Even so, this progress in our knowledge has not exhausted the corpus of philatelic knowledge any more than philatelic knowledge forms more than a infinitesimal part of global knowledge.

In practice there are still major areas unexplored in the chapters relating to postal communications and which are concerned with:

- postal routes;

- media of communication;

- laws and postal tariffs.

This is a great generalisation. Encompassing these three headings is a complex communications system that, begun about five centuries ago, has little by little since then modified into the complicated structure of today.

In this first survey it is hoped to draw together all that is known as of today about postal history in all its complexity for a well-defined and circumscribed period which runs from 1st January, 1863 to 31st December, 1864. At the heart of this discussion lie the laws of 5th May, 1862 which extended the postal regulations then in force in the Kingdom of Sardinia to the whole of the new United Kingdom of Italy. For the full version of the laws one needs to consult the Decree of 21st September, 1862 which put into operation the organisation ordered by those laws.

The text of the laws of 5th May, 1862 was restricted by applying only to the internal tariff. As of the new regulations the system of a single internal tariff was extended to all the new territories, a system that divorced the postal tariff from variation according to distance with the single exception of the rate for the postal district. Although the new practice had already been put into operation in the newly acquired southern and central provinces to all intents and purposes, it was really with these new laws that the highly laborious and antiquated old regulations that were defined by destination and amount of writter matter - one sheet, a sheet and a half, etc. - were finally supplanted; regulations that, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Papal States, had represented a grevious burden placed by the state on the citizen.

The old ways of doing thins remained in force until 1860 in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and until 31st December, 1863 in the Papal States, whereas the need to modernise the tariff had changed the system in Sardinia as early as 1850, copying the postal systems already operating in France and Britain and which spread from them a little later to Austria and the other European countries. This need to adopt a low tariff system had been forced on some countries by the constraints of modernising their postal services to combat the competition provided by other states. Sardinia was thus constrained by the need for a competitive tariff through being squeezed between the more complex postal structure of Austria on the one hand which sought to suffocate Sardinian traffic by land as it had done by sea; by those of France which sought to dominate the maritime traffic in the Mediterranean between Italy and the Iberian Peninsula just as Austria dominated the traffic with the Levant; and by the German States which controlled the postal routes through Central Europe. The emergent Italian state therefore found itself in the middle of a bitter diplomatic war fought on the postal front through international postal conventions which attempted to give preference to one's own postal network through a series of concessions and reciprocal low tariffs.

In a speech to the Sardinian Parliament on 12st April, 1850, Senator Antonio di Pollone gives this list of reasons why a single postal rate for the whole national territory is preferable to a rate structure based on zones or the distance between despatching and receiving offices. To understand better the reasons put forward by di Pollone, we repeat the conclusions of his address:

"With a single tax the public is, in effect, spared the full burden of the actual tariff..... the general will of the public is satisfied....... commercial transactions are facilitated...... it is made easier for the better classes of society to maintain their links with their families..... an opportunity and temptation to indulge in dubious practices is removed...... conventions with foreign powers are made easier to conclude...... it will be easier to obtain a postal tariff for the Island of Sardinia on the same basis as that obtaining on the mainland..... an immense benefit would be felt by the administration as well as the public inasmuch as all operations are simplified, the calculation of taxation is Limited to a simple check on each Letter; and the whole process therefore gains in ease, rapidity and removal of error...... a better delivery service is assured....... it becomes easier to calculate the precise number of Letters in circulation..... against all these advantages there, is just the one disadvantage in terms of a loss to the Treasury which it is estimated will persist for four years; a loss which is more than compensated for by the many advantages. In any event this can hardly be called a loss in view of the considerable benefit to the public and which will anyway not only cease to be a loss after five years but will, everything goes to show, be progressively converted into an increase in revenue"

These are arguments which demonstrate a degree of care for the problems of the public on the part of the postal administration such as is not met with in the other 'Italian' administrations of the period.

Another characteristic of the postal laws that we must consider is their impact on the external tariff. It is necessary to remember that in the period under consideration there was a system of postal conventions between individual states based in part on reciprocal tariffs applied to letters whether they were addressed to a person within a signatory state or whether they were in transit across the state.

It was this aspect of postal conventions that was the basis of a long diplomatic war, not only for the sake of the money a state received for letters in transit - Sardinia for example received 20c. For a letter in transit just as it did for a letter posted internally - but also for the political prestige of having one's route preferred, and therefore substantially financed, in preference to the routes of one's "rivals". In fact, to have a substantial postal traffic permitted the development of one's own national system with little drain on the nation's resources - something almost beyond our imagination today. As a result of this there was a bitter war between Sardinia and Austria for the land routes into Italy just as there was between the Imperial French steamers and those of Lloyd Austriaco for maritime supremacy.

Witnesses to this traffic are the famous manuscript notations of the carriage rate of each administration applied to the cover, and in their own ledgers, and which meant that at the end of a journey a letter seemed to carry an unreasonable set of figures. By the time we are talking of this 'war' was effectively nearly over. In fact, to reduce the long and costly accounting for every single letter the later conventions stipulated that letters in transit should be in a closed postbag which was charged by the kilogram of mail carried. This development removed the need for all those postmarks and annotations on covers - an undoubted reduction in bureaucratic demands on frontier post offices.

One last consideration before we turn to the postal laws proper. The postal service was conceived and developed according to one major characteristic which seems alien to us today; that is, except in a few sporadic cases, the payment for the carriage of letters was made by the recipient. This practice was so fundamental that the postal reforms and introduction of postage stamps by Rowland Hill merely modified it. There were many factors including the exorbitant cost of postage and the uncertainty of delivery that made people prefer payment by the addressee.

Obviously this method was not favoured by the administration, partly because this way of doing things involved a very substantial amount of clerical work in entering the details of letters in various registers, and partly because the administration had to bear the cost of those letters that were rejected; that is to say those letters that, having been delivered to the addressee, were met with a refusal to pay the requested tax. To discourage the practice a system was introduced, first in France and later in Sardinia, whereby the postal tariff was increased for letters sent at the charge of the addressee; in the Italian system for the first time unfranked letters were subjected to a penalty double that of the normal rate.

FREE FRANK LETTERS, LETTERS NOT PASSED THROUGH THE POST AND UNFRANKED LETTERS

These can be grouped together although all three types of letters developed separately. The factor which unites them is the lack of attention, the rejection even, given by collectors to this type of correspondence.

As regards the postal franchise these letters are to be found in abundance and are relatively common. Their distinguishing characteristic is to have, lower left, either a mark or a manuscript note together with signature of the official to whom the franchise was granted inasmuchas this was granted to each office-holder individually and not to the office in general.

Letters also exist that have not passed through the post and, being dealt with privately, would seem not to be relevant. What is interesting however is the way in which these letters were carried in a fashion comparable to that used by the post office. In Sicily for example a practice that was tolerated was for a ship's captain to whom a parcel was entrusted to be also handed an accompanying letter to be given to the recipient of the parcel. This transport was not postal but it undoubtedly has a postal interest. From this comes Article 3 of the Laws of May 1862 which asserts that the postal service must be extended to all communes in the kingdom before 1873 but that in the meantime those communes not served by a post office "..are free to arrange transport of mail at the cost of individuals or the communes.."

This arrangement means in fact that for a fairly brief period some communes could pass correspondence within their boundaries without paying tax. However, the postal administration coped with this particular need by the creation of the rural collection offices. While these offices were able to ask the Ministry of Posts for the provision of a line stamp bearing the name of the commune the use of the cursive line stamps of the collection offices during the 1863-4 period cannot be very common.

The types of mail sent by communes without post offices can be tabulated as follows:

1. Post sent to the same commune or addressed to a neighbouring commune also without post office

- a) without any postmark or tax mark;

- b) bearing only the cursive provenance mark.

2. Post sent to a district with a post office.

- a) with or without the cursive provenance mark and a tax mark;

- b) with or without cursive provenance mark plus tax mark plus arrival handstamp;

- c) with or without cursive provenance mark and 1Oc. segnatasse applied on arrival.

As well as the above, letters posted without stamps came into the unfranked category. To these letters the despatching office had to apply on the face of the cover the tax to be recovered by the arrival office, marked in decimes of lire.

THE POSTAL TARIFF:

This is the main subject of this article and, while it may seem that there were very few rates, all for internal use, a deeper examination shows that this is not true.

To start with the laws worked according to two important principles.

- letters were taxed according to their weight, the minimum unit being fixed at 10 grammes; each fraction in excess attracting double that rate up to 50 grammes. Beyond that tax was paid on each 50 grammes or part thereof.

-Tax on letters was fixed whether they were sent by land or by sea on the postal steam packets.

This last was an important innovation - with certain exceptions which we shall note later - which permitted the upsurge of an immense maritime resource for a long and narrow peninsula, land connections within which were derisory and unsafe.

The letter rate was set at 15c., a reduction of 5c. on the rate that had been in force for some time. The existing local rate of 5c. was maintained and for mail sent to the armed forces the rate was fixed at 1Oc.

For registered letters, or to be precise, those letters not placed in the post box but handed in at the post office against a record of this, a rate was established of 30c. over the normal rate for letters or packets. At the same time it was been as possible to register letters "containing or supposed to contain money or valuables.." For these letters the postal administration allowed an exception to its normal double-tax rule by allowing registration at the expense of the recipient for 30c. above the normal tax for an unfranked letter of 30c.  On the other hand, the post office, seeing this as negligence on the part of the sender, did not offer any form of indemnity against loss whereas for a normal registered letter any loss attracted compensation of fifty lire.

The post office also accepted the despatch of insured letters provided the insured value was written on the face of all such letters. The limit for insurance was 3,000 lire. For this service the sender was charged the cost of a normal letter plus registration, plus 1Oc. for every 100 lire insured, or part thereof. For both insured and registered letters a receipt could be requested from the addressee that the post office undertook to deliver against payment of 20c.

Manuscripts or samples could be sent franked or at the cost of the consignee. For these the rate was double if unfranked. The normal rate was 20c. up to 50 grammes and 40c. up to 100 grammes; subsequent stages were of 40c. for each 500 grammes. When a letter was inserted with the manuscript this must also be taxed. For papers and samples addressed within the postal district the local letter rate was charged. Franking was obligatory for newspapers and printed paper, which must also be sent wrapped. The tax to which they were subjected was 1c. for periodicals and newspapers weighing less than 40 grammes. Each sheet of non-periodical printed matter such as photographs, sheet music and books bore a tariff of 2c. Manuscripts and printed papers could also be registered with a fee of 30c. Both printed matter and samples had to be sent "sotto fascia" - i.e. they must be wrapped and tied with string.

VIA DI MARE:

We have already said that the rate for letters carried on the postal steam packets was 20c. It must be noted that the postal packets were those with whom the State had signed a convention for the carriage of mail. For merchant ships which were not in State service, the post office stipulated a recognition to captain or owar of 5c. for every letter and 1c. for printed papers not exceeding 40 grammes within the kingdom, or 10c. the former and 5c. the latter if carried to or from a foreign country.

The cost to the user of the latter service was the total of the sum owing the State plus that owing to the captain or owner of the ship. In order to use the service the sender had to indicate specifically on the cover the name of the steam or sailing vessel carrying the letter. In practice this regulation was largely disregarded and mail was transported on merchant vessels even if the covers were endorsed generically "col vapore" with no indication of a specified vessel. Letters sent in this way were however not eligible for registration or insurance.

Article 62 should be noted: The tax for Letters or printed matter sent from or to a foreign country with whom a postal convention does not exist, carried by a merchant vessel, will be equal to that required for Letters or printed paper sent within the Kingdom with an additional surcharge of 10c. for Letters and 5c. for printed matter". This is clearly a reference to the Papal States, the only state in Europe not to have a postal agreement with Italy. According to this article letters sent to the Papal States were charged at 25c.

EXPRESS LETTERS:

At this time we are not talking about 'express letters' as such but those passed along the main roads where horse posting stations were by paying the horse This last necessary fell into f ell into a popular established so that they could be sent by dispatch-rider (staffetta) the cost of registration - 30c. - plus the tariff 'fixed for posting stations existing in the divers provinces of the Kingdom'. Regulation does not appear to be very clear and it was found to clarify the organisation of the dispatch-rider system which three types - ordinary, express and courier. These, however, disuse in the eighteen-sixties and were little used. It was not service since not only were the costs of sending a letter express very high but the sender had to take the letter himself to a horse posting station which may have been numerous enough in the more developed north - Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria - but were much more scarce in the centre and south of the country.

POSTAGE STAMPS:

ART: 67.

"The Postage stamp is a rectangle 23mm high and 20mm wide, bearing at its base an indication of value and on the other sides the legend FRANCOBOLLO/ITALIA/POSTE with the royal arms in the centre".

ART: 68.

"The postage stamps are of eight values, i.e.

- c. one: yellow;
- c. five: olive-green;
- c. ten: brown;
- c. fifteen: light green;
- c. thirty: blue;
- c. forty: orange;
- c. eighty: red;
- three lire: violet.

We have to say that we are not here concerned with the stamps used up to that time, i.e., the Sardinian issues or the perforated Sardinian issues released in 1862, since these were issues regarded as provisional to be replaced as soon as new issues were available. A second point we must make is that the stamps described above in the Decree of 21st September 1862, never actually existed. This description fits the proofs provided by Count Sparre of Stockholm who on 12th July, 1862 had concluded a five year contract with the Ministry of Finance for the manufacture of eight values to the unique design of the Arms of Savoy.

The fact that, in the laws of September, 1862, even the colours of the stamps were quoated leads one to believe that Count Sparre was further advanced in his work for the Italian administration than has been generally thought - a belief that would seem to be confirmed by the words of an official of the Ministry of Finance on a visit to Paris in the same month, "..the work is well advanced... there is no doubt that the business of the stamps will be completed in time.."

Yet the Ministry of Posts must have had reservations or they were naturally more cautious because in that same month of September they made contact with De La Rue for the supply of stamps "..in a format similar to that of British stamps, with the portrait of the king or other approved designs.." as was stated in a letter of William De La Rue dated 10th October, 1862.

Everyone knows what happened next. Count Sparre was unable to meet his deadline for the provision of a useful quantity of stamps and the De La Rue issues saw the light of day in December, 1863. Enough has been said previously about the travails of the postal administration through that year of 1863 with the imperforate and perforate Sardinian issues, the Sardinia type and lithograph values commissioned from a printing office of only moderate size. That exceptional year of 1863 has not only produced the finest and most interesting mixed frankings but also a vast philatelic literature.

It has already been stated that in 1863 the practice of not franking letters and sending them at the expense of the recipient had not yet been eradicated. In such a case the post office restricted itself to indicating on the address side of the letter the tax owing on the letter, the use of a postage due adhesive not yet being foreseen. As of 1st January, 1863 a 10c. stamp was adopted to serve exclusively in the taxation of letters "..delivered within the district of the office of posting which were both collected and delivered by the rural postman.." The segnatasse was therefore introduced to remove the possibility that a letter posted and delivered within the area of a single office might be delivered without having paid tax.

FRANKINGS:

From the point of view of franking the period we are discussing falls into two parts. In 1863 there were the numerous provisional issues such as the imperforate Sardinia IV, the 2c. and 15c. of Sardinian type, and the 15c. litho.; to which we add in December the De La Rue series. In the second period - that is to say in 1864 - things are more normal with the De La Rue stamps as the only postage stamps available. In studying frankings however we have to admit the fascination, interest and attraction associated with mixed frankings. These mixed frankings can be divided into three grades of rarity.

- a) Mixed values of the time, in which the degree of rarity takes account of the period for which the values concerned were current. In this group the greatest rarities are the mixture of De La Rue values with other values valid in December 1863, such as the Sardinia IV.

- b) Mixed values, in which rarity takes account of the likelihood of certain pairings, the rarest mixture obviously being two stamps of different issues but of the same face value.

- c) Mixture of postage stamps and postage dues. The use of a postage due as a postage stamp alongside other values is so extraordinary that very few examples are known. Yet, if one thinks about it, an equally rare circumstance was the use of a 1Oc. postage due on arrival to indicate a letter insufficiently franked inasmuchas this neither was its legitimate postal use. Paradoxically, the commonest use of the postage due is in mixed frankings with the stamps of the Papal States.

The Papal States had broken off diplomatic and postal relations with Sardinia in 1861 when troops loyal to the House of Savoy had invaded the Marches. From then until 1867 the two neighbouring states resolutely ignored one another. This had the effect that a letter posted to the Papal States could be franked only as far as the frontier with Italy, while letters arriving in Italy from the Papal States were not carriage paid. While not coming into the category of letters to be taxed by postage dues but rather with a tax mark on the face of the cover, they were in fact normally taxed by a pair of the 1Oc, segnatasse which were nearly always placed over the top of the Papal stamps as if to expunge any reference to that state. This method must normally have been used only in areas bordering on the Papal States and not in more distant locations where the existing system could be more easily adopted. Yet the anomaly presents us with interesting documents of postal history that can be met with but are nevertheless not common.

CANCELLATIONS:

During the period 1863-4 the most common handstamp was the double circle in the northern provinces of Piedmont, Liguria and Sardinia while in Lombardy, Central and Southern Italy there was a chaotic confusion of ex-Duchy, provisional and Sardo-Italian postmarks. The Italian post office tried as hard as possible to issue postmarks of the new pattern but it was not always possible. Many offices, generally those of no great importance, were never provided with the famous double circle. If one takes Southern Italy as an example, we find that, especially in Sicily, the issue of the double circle mark was limited to a handful of newly founded offices and the main post offices of provincial capitals; this situation lasting until the end of 1863. Moreover, use of the double circle is notoriously less common than the specialised catalogues of this material would have us believe. If the collector were to limit his research to just the use of the double circle mark in the 1863-64 period he could well have taken on a lifetime's work.

See (Fig. 1).

Giuseppe Marchese