Today in Postal History
Lebanon to France
March 22, 1903
This neat letter was postmarked at the British
Post Office in Beyrout on its way to Paris.
It arrived in Paris on March 29 where it received at PARIS DISTRIBUTxN
CDS.
The British Post Office in Beyrout (Beirut) was
opened in 1873
and closed September 30, 1914, with the onset of World War I.
The British Post Offices in the Turkish Empire
were
grouped together under the term 'British Levant.'
In addition to Beirut, the British Levant included post offices in
Constantinople, Salonica, Smyrna, and Stamboul (a sub-office in
Constantinople).
A number of other European countries had post
offices in the Turkish Empire.
France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Germany, and Austria all had
post offices there.
The cover is franked with a single 40 PARAS
overprinted 2½d. ultramarine from 1902 (SG 8).
All in all, a nice example of mail from this source.
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