INTRODUCTION OF THE FIRST EDITION "VOLUME 1"

Chapter One gives an introduction to the political history of Egypt before the Muhammad Ali Dynasty (prior to 1805).  It summarizes a series of conquests that began in the pharaonic era until the time of Muhammad Ali, stating who ruled Egypt when and for how long.  Egypt’s postal history is marked by two major events: the first was the Venetian service between Egypt and Venice in the eighteenth century, and two examples are included, one in 1732 and the other in 1745.  Trade with Europe at this time was mostly with Venice and, to meet the demands for communication, letters were entrusted to ships’ captains travelling between Alexandria and Venice. The second major event, the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt between 1798 and 1801, was a landmark in Egypt’s postal history when, for the first time, Egyptians were exposed to a modern postal service.  A series of examples are presented.

Chapter Two deals with postal services during the time of Muhammad Ali and his sons Ibrahim and Said, and his grandson Abbas Helmi, from 1805 to 1863. This was before his other grandson Ismail took power. Muhammad Ali’s rule marked the start of modern Egypt, where trade relations between Egypt and Europe made a fundamental shift after the old rule of the Mamluks ended at the beginning of this new era. For the first time, forwarding agents carried mail between Egypt and Europe and even to America. Egypt was also used as the hub for mail to India. The European powers opened offices in Alexandria to meet the demands of local business communities with their homelands, which included Greece, France, Britain and Russia. 

Italian entrepreneurs also established a post office in Alexandria to serve their local community, based on the European model, which they named Posta Europa.  This turned out to be a highly successful venture that was later bought by the Egyptian government which made it the foundation of the modern Egyptian Postal Service. Various examples are presented from these different post offices. After Muhammad Ali relinquished power in 1841, his son Ibrahim ruled for a short time, followed by Abbas Helmi, then Said.

There were no major new developments in terms of postal history during this time, except for the opening of the Russian Post Office in Alexandria in 1857, at the time of Said Pasha. During his reign, Said Pasha gave a concession to Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer, to start construction of the Suez Canal to join the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, which later had a profound impact on Egypt’s postal history. After Said’s death, his nephew Ismail Pasha came to power and his reign was filled with many developments in the Egyptian postal services, which is the subject of the next chapter. Postal material is presented to cover all these events.

Chapter Three presents the postal history from Ismail Pasha’s rule from 1863 to 1914 (the start of WW1), which marked the end of Ottoman rule and the start of the British Mandate. This was an era full of postal events, which started with the opening of the Italian Post Office in Alexandria. Ismail Pasha was very keen to modernize the Egyptian postal service, so he began by buying Posta Europea in 1865, making it the basis of the modern Egyptian Postal Service, and by releasing the first issue of Egyptian Postage Stamps in 1866.  This was quickly followed by the Second Issue in 1867, the Third Issue in 1872, and the Fourth Issue in 1879.  During Ismail’s reign the French extended their offices to Cairo and Port Said, as did the Austrians, and the Russians opened an office in Port Said.  Such expansion became viable after the opening of the Suez Canal in November 1869.  Accompanying this was a large extension of the Egyptian Post Offices to cover the rest of the country and this is the subject of the Volume 3.

In 1879 Ismail Pasha was removed from office by the Ottoman Sultan who replaced him with Ismail’s son Tewfiq.  The Tewfiq period, which lasted for fourteen years, was very turbulent in terms of political events such as the Arabi Revolt of 1881, the British Occupation in 1882, and the Mahdi-Dervish Revolution of 1885 in Sudan which ended the Egyptian-British rule of Sudan. The only postal events during this period were the issuing of two more editions of the Fourth Issue in 1881 to change the colours to match the UPU requirements, and in 1888 when the local currency was changed from paras to milliemes. This period was followed by the reign of Khedive Abbas Helmi II from 1892 to 1914, which marked an important event where the postage stamp design was changed from the Pyramid and Sphinx format to the Pictorials edition in 1914.  When WW1 broke out in 1914 and Abbas Helmi II sided with the Turks, Britain declared Egypt a British Protectorate. The British replaced Abbas Helmi with his uncle Hussein Kamel.  The reign of Hussein Kamel is covered in Volume 2. Postal material is presented to cover all the events mentioned above.

Chapter Four deals with Sudan. Its history is very much integrated with the history of Egypt, and took distinct phases – starting with the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, when he extended the postal service into Sudan to cover the activities of government rule there. With the reign of Ismail such services covered around twenty-eight post offices across Sudan.  When the Mahdi-Dervish Revolution occurred in Sudan these services were interrupted except for Suakin and Wadi Halfa, since the revolution did not reach those cities.  In 1891 a joint Anglo-Egyptian campaign was launched to reconquer Sudan and by 1899 the Mahdi-Dervish rule of Sudan was over and the postal service was reinstated.  Examples of such events in the postal service are presented.

Chapter Five presents another important aspect of the Egyptian Postal Service, which was the Governmental Postal Service and how it was organized over the years. It issued Postage Due stamps which were employed to recover unpaid dues if the stamps applied to an envelope or card were not sufficient to meet the requirements.  In such situations, a levy was charged against the receiver to cover the difference in cost of the service, and that took the form of the Postage Due stamp. These aspects of the postal history of Egypt, the governmental or official postage and collecting the postage due, are documented in this chapter.

Chapter Six describes another service provided to the public as part of its Postal Services, and that was postal stationery in different forms, which included postal cards and envelopes, registered envelopes and letter sheets, wrappers, letter-cards, and aerogrammes. This service started in 1879 and continued until the end of the Muhammad Ali dynasty in 1953. Each item of postal stationery is described and documented, with examples that illustrate the different products.

INTRODUCTION OF THE FIRST EDITION "VOLUME 2"

This second volume is a continuation of the first, and begins where the first one stopped, at the beginning of WW1. It addresses Egypt’s postal history from 1914 to the end of the monarchy in 1953 and the conclusion of the Suez Canal War in 1956, and the re-opening of the canal in 1957. The First World War had a profound impact on Egypt’s history, including its postal history.  Turkey had sided with Germany, and Britain declared Egypt its protectorate. This resulted in Egypt no longer being part of the Ottoman Empire. Britain took effective control of the country and replaced Khedive Abbas Helmi II, who had sided with the Ottomans, with his uncle Hussein Kamel, the oldest son of Khedive Ismail. Britain gave Hussein Kamel the title of Sultan to be at the same rank as the Ottoman Sultan.  Three years later, Sultan Hussain Kamel died in 1917 and was replaced by his brother Fouad, who was also given the title of Sultan. 

At the end of WW1, Egypt negotiated with Britain to secure some sort of independence and also deal with ruling Sudan.  These negotiations led to Egypt being declared a kingdom in 1922 and Sultan Fouad became King. This change had a considerable impact on postal matters. In 1936 King Fouad died and his young son and heir, Farouk, became the new boy king.  He stayed in power until 1952 when the Egyptian military forced him to abdicate. He immediately left to Italy and remained there in exile until 1965, when he died suddenly. 

King Farouk had abdicated in favour of his infant son, Ahmed Fouad II. In 1953 the military abolished the kingdom and declared Egypt a republic.  It was a very turbulent time and reached crisis levels when the military government nationalized the Suez Canal, beginning the Suez War during which the French, British and Israelis occupied the Suez Canal. Under intense international pressure, however, they evacuated the Canal Zone allowing it to return to the full control of Egypt. The history of the Suez Canal is very important to the postal history of Egypt and this volume ends at this stage, in 1957, when the Republic had just begun.  It is hoped that this work will be continued by others in the future. 

Chapter 1 – Egypt as a Sultanate: In 1914 Egypt became a sultanate under British protection.  During the first three years of Sultan Hussein Kamel’s rule there were no major postal events, only an overprint on 3 m. stamps to make them 2 m., which was needed to meet the demand for more 2 m. stamps.  After his death in 1917, and during the reign of Sultan Fouad, the second edition of the 1914 Pictorials was issued in 1921-22 with additional values and a change in the watermark. Egypt’s status from a sultanate, under British protection, to a kingdom was also about to change. In 1922 Britain and Egypt signed a treaty which realigned their relationship. Between 1917 and 1922 the British had given Fouad the title of Sultan. In 1922 he became king, and Egypt became an independent kingdom.

Chapter 2 – Egypt as a Kingdom: The kingdom of Egypt, from 1922 to 1953, was ruled by three kings. The first was King Fouad, whose title was changed from sultan to king in 1922, when a new constitution took effect. His reign ended in 1936, when he died. His young son Farouk, who was not quite 18 at the time, became the next king. Farouk reigned from 1936 to 1952 when he was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his infant son, Ahmed Fouad II. The military abolished the kingdom in June 1953, changing Egypt to a republic. 

The third edition of the Pictorials was issued in 1922 with an overprint stating “Egyptian Kingdom” (in Arabic).  The first King Fouad issue, bearing his portrait, was released in 1923.  Another two editions with King Fouad’s portrait were issued in 1927 and 1936. King Fouad passed away in 1936, and his son Farouk became the new king in the same year.  King Farouk at that time was a minor and not yet eighteen years old.  He was known then as the Boy King. 

Shortly after his reign began, the Second World War (WWII) started, which marked the beginning of more turbulent times for Egypt.  In 1937 new stamps were issued with King Farouk’s portrait, followed by more new stamps in 1939 and 1944.  In 1951 Egypt withdrew from the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty governing joint rule of Sudan, and Farouk declared himself King of Egypt and Sudan.  In 1952 he ordered stamps with an overprint ‘King of Egypt and Sudan’, using the same portrait from previous editions.  In July 1952 King Farouk was overthrown by a military coup which, in 1953, declared Egypt a Republic and issued new stamps in the same year with the images of farmers and soldiers to replace the portrait of Farouk.  To use up the existing stock of stamps that had King Farouk’s portrait on them, the military government ordered an overprint of three black bars across the face of King Farouk.

Chapter 3 – Commemoratives: In 1925 a stamp was issued on the occasion of the International Geographical Congress. This was the beginning of commemorative stamps, issued to mark various important and special occasions, rather than to simply defray postage costs, as Definitives do. The issuing of commemorative stamps has continued up to today, and each one carries a particular relevance to specific political, economic or social events of the time they were issued.  This chapter documents these stamps and their use up to 1957 when the Suez War ended and the Suez Canal was reopened after it had been closed during the 1956 war between Egypt and Israel, Britain and France.  This new era in Egypt’s history, from 1957 onwards, is where this study ends.

Chapter 4 – Airmail and Postal Express: The first issue of airmail postage was released on 10 March 1926 at the time of King Fouad, followed by another issue in 1929. In 1931 an overprint for the visit of the Graf Zeppelin was issued on the 1929 issue.  The first set, covering airmail postage issued in 1933 with denominations from 1 m. to 200 m., remained in use until 1938. In 1941 a new color with the same design was issued.  In 1946 a new design, with the portrait of King Farouk, was released.  It stayed in use, with some overprints as needed, until the republic issued new stamps in 1953 while still using the King Farouk stamps but with a three black bar overprint across the face of King Farouk.  In addition to airmail postage, special delivery stamps were issued in 1926 to be used to speed up the delivery of mail, where the individual paid a higher price for such fast service.  Examples are given of the airmail and special delivery stamps and their use.

Chapter 5 – Military Post in Egypt: The British Military reached an agreement with the Egyptian government regarding mail rates for their navy, army and air force servicemen to send letters home to Britain.  This postal concession came into effect in November 1932 and stated that the Egyptian Postal Department would grant military personnel the privilege of sending letters at the old rate of one piastre per 20 grams. As well, unsealed Christmas and New Year cards could be sent for three milliemes.  Special seals and stamps were used in place of Egyptian stamps, and certain conditions applied to their use. Post cards, registered letters, airmail letters and parcels, however, had to be processed by the Egyptian postal facilities and the postage paid with Egyptian stamps. The special handstamps were provided by the Egyptian Postal Department, while the stamps themselves were supplied by Britain's Navy, Army, and Air Force Institute (NAAFI). 

These special issue 'British Forces in Egypt' stamps and seals, in booklet form, were available until February 1936, and could be bought only from the NAAFI canteens by military personnel. Official military mail was subject to the full postal rates under the special agreement.  Eleven stamps, or letter seals, were issued and used during this concessionary period. When the concession came to an end, these stamps and seals were replaced by new Army Post stamps, issued by the Egyptian Postal Administration, with the King’s portrait on them. In April 1941 these stamps were withdrawn but the concession, without the use of special stamps, continued until October 1951 when the postal agreement was abrogated.

Chapter 6 – Palestine: After the 1948 war between Israel and Arab Forces, Gaza was placed under the administration of the Egyptian authorities.  Even before the conclusion of the war, Egyptian stamps were being used in Palestine, and continued to be used there until 1956, after Israel invaded Sinai and captured the Gaza Strip.  After the end of the Sinai war, the Gaza Strip reverted to Egyptian rule, with Egyptian stamps again being used.  Initially, stamps carried an overprint to indicate their use in Palestine.  Later the word Palestine appeared as part of the stamp, in Arabic (Filisteen), and used in the Gaza Strip. They continued in use until Israel again invaded Palestine in 1967.  After that date the Gaza Strip no longer came under Egyptian rule.

The history of Egyptian stamp use in Palestine covers the period from 1948 to 1967.  The last fourteen years of that period, from 1953 to 1967, are outside the scope of this work. The stamps used in Palestine are illustrated and some examples are given of their use.

INTRODUCTION OF THE SECOND EDITION

After the First Edition was sold out and, with the help of God, awarded a Large Vermeil prize at the China International Stamp Exhibition (11-17 June 2019), I decided to produce a Second Edition, taking into consideration the advice, suggestions and comments I received from the readers of the First Edition. This Second Edition is different from the First in that the materials shown in the figures have been minimized, while keeping the size of the stamps, cancellations and seals close to the normal size. Moreover, a general revision was made within the book, and only one stamp for each Issue was added as an example.  An Appendix has been added at the end of the book which includes all stamp Issues contained in the book.

Additional Materials Added to Volume 1:

• Special seals of the Official Post in Chapter 2: The Mail of Muhammad Ali Pasha.
• ‘The Asyut Find’ article, written by Mr. Mahmoud Ramadan, and a group of seals compiled by him. His article was originally published in the ‘Egypt Study Circle’s Quarterly Circular and is included in Chapter 2 after a statement of permission from them.
• A new “Official” envelope in Chapter 5: Postage Due Stamps, Official Stamps and Services.
• Five covers for new uses in Chapter 6: Postal Stationery. The unused models were deleted and only the forms were included in a Table of Postal Stationery Issues in the Appendix.

 

Addition Materials Added to Volume 2:

• A new use envelope in Chapter 1: The Egyptian Sultanate.
• Two envelopes in King Farouk Mail in Chapter 2: The Egyptian Kingdom.
• Nineteen new use envelopes in Chapter 3: Commemoratives, obtained from the auction of The Joseph Chalhoub Collection.
• A new airmail envelope in Chapter 4: Air Mail and Express Services.