The latest book to be published by The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) details the history and postal history of these two Austrian steamship companies operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea over a period of fifteen years. It follows the rivalry of the two companies amid important historical events of the period and provides detailed information on the rates, routes and individual voyages of the steamships. The author has made extensive use of primary sources and in doing so has been able to both correct errors in the existing literature and present much new information for postal historians.
The first chapter focuses on the Austrian Lloyd’s Egypt line and the five known postal uses of the handstamp of that company used in Alexandria. The Danube Steam Navigation Company (DDSG) briefly ran its own line to Egypt, and this is the subject of the second chapter. There follow two chapters containing detailed information on the DDSG’s history and operations in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean, including extensive tables documenting the individual voyages. The research contained in these chapters comprises essential data for the final chapter which is built around the analysis of 13 selected letters carried on the maritime lines of the DDSG.
About the author
Christopher Smith has been a philatelist and postal historian for nearly six decades. His collecting interests include Austrian offices abroad, the consular post offices of Egypt, the Bordeaux issue of France, local posts of Sweden and Denmark, and classic United States.
Key details: Christopher C. Smith, Austrian Maritime Rivals – The Danube Steam Navigation Company and The Austrian Lloyd in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea 1834 to 1849. London: The Royal Philatelic Society London. 367 p. ISBN 978-1-913015-33-6. Price: £65 (RPSL members £58) + shipping. Available from: www.rpsl.org.uk.
