Auction 265th - 273rd - Day 4

1843 (April): Entire letter in French from Adwa, 'Abyssinie', in the Tigray to Lyon, France carried by merchant caravan via Kassala and thence via the Nile to Alexandria where put into the French Post Office with "Alexandrie / (Egypte)" cds (Aug 17) in black. Struck with framed "Paquebots / De La / Mediterranée" in red. Disinfected in Malta with circular "Purifiée au Lazaret / Malte" cachet in black and slitted, Marseille cds of transit (Aug 31) and Lyon arrival cds (Sept 2) where charged '24' décimes due in manuscript. An astonishingly early entire, the third earliest we have recorded, the letter being written by the French priest Justin de Jacobis, who had arrived in Adwa in October 1839. Extremely rare and fine. Cert. J-F. Brun (2016).rnrnNote: The French Treaty of Friendship with the King of the Showa, Sahle Selassie (1813-1847) was signed in 1843.rnrnProvenance: Collection Roberto Sciaky, Harmers, London, 25 July 2006, lot 1.