Review by Nick Anning: Book Preface: Prepared over seven years, this book deals with the overseas mail routes and discusses their availability and usage over the entire Pre-UPU period. It also covers Special Classes of Mail including Official and Defence Forces Mail, Late Fees and illustrates alll the important instructional markings of both the Melbourne GPO and foreign postal administrations found on mail in the Pre-UPU period. It also includes the extremely complex registered mail rates, focussed especially on the early period to assist the user in properly interpreting and examining this difficult field. Extensive tables of rates to foreign countries in the Pre-UPU period have been assembled from the most complete sources available. The highlight is an exhaustive census of every example of mail in the Pre-UPU period to every overseas destination with the exception of Great Britain. With over 10,000 individual sources reviewed the author presents a reliable and meticulous index of all covers believed to exist - and explaining in detail the franking and rates paid on every example where possible - creating a resource of importance to both the traditional philatelist and the postal historian. As such, this is an exceptional reference tool for collectors, the trade and philatelic judges.

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