512 pp. - more than 1200 colour ill. - hardbound with gold inscriptions and colour cover - 2nd ed. 2004
VALUATIONS IN EURO
Italian and English text

HISTORICAL POSTAL CATALOGUE OF THE STAMPS OF VITTORIO EMANUELE II KING OF ITALY - II Edition - I volume: The Matraire stamps of Italy

Second edition, completely revised, which deals with the use of Matraire in the Kingdom of Italy starting from the first day of issue (1 March 1862) to 31 December 1863.
The exhaustive work is divided into eight chapters, each on a different postage stamp: 10c, 20c, 40c, 80c perforated, 2c yellow, 15c Sardinia, two 15c lithographed. Quotations in Euro are also given for print varieties, perforations, franking, use.

Four appendixes complete the book: postal forgeries, "December '63" including "De La Rue", the Matraire postage-due label used in 1863, every Italian destination. Very useful tables for the more than 700 franking on cover.

Quite every item known has been reproduced and many important philatelic and postal-historical notes accompany the text, making the work an essential instrument for collectors and scholars of the Kingdom of Italy.

LUXORY EDITION - LEATHER-BOUND - 100 COPIES LIMITED AND NUMBERED EDITION
450 pp. - colour ill. - hard bound - printed 2000
Italian and English text

HISTORICAL POSTAL CATALOGUE OF THE POSTAGE STAMPS USED BY ITALIAN POST OFFICES ABROAD 1852-1890

ALEXANDRIA - BUENOS AIRES - LA GOLETTA - MONTEVIDEO - SUSA - TRIPOLI - TUNISI
The catalogue includes a descriptive part (370 pp.) and a price list (80 pp.); all the franking known in every office have been catalogued.
The volume is in colour.
The cancel impressions relevant to the franking dealt with and illustrated have been reproduced.
There is no traditional numbering generally found in every catalogue; numbering follows, in fact, the nominal value for the different franking, starting from the lowest to the highest. A capital letter indicates the different franking with the same nominal value.
Quotations in euro.

450 pp. - colour ill. - claret cloth-bound with gold inscriptions - printed 2000
WITH VALUATIONS IN EURO
English Translation by Ettore Pedrazzo
Italian and English text

HISTORICAL POSTAL CATALOGUE OF STAMPS USED IN THE ITALIAN POST-OFFICES ABROAD 1852-1890

ALEXANDRIA - BUENOS AIRES - LA GOLETTA - MONTEVIDEO - SUSA - TRIPOLI - TUNISI
The catalogue includes a descriptive part (370 pp.) and a price list (80 pp.); all the franking known in every office have been catalogued.
The cancel impressions relevant to the franking dealt with and illustrated have been reproduced.
There is no traditional numbering generally found in every catalogue; numbering follows, in fact, the nominal value for the different franking, starting from the lowest to the highest. A capital letter indicates the different franking with the same nominal value.

204 pp. - 36 pages with colour plates - format cm 17x24 - softbound - printed 2006
AS A GIFT a beautiful reproduction of a colour map of Switzerland printed in Bern in the second half of 1800s, A3 size on ivory quality paper
series «Handies»
Italian text

ALSO AS FREE BOOK (class B)

POSTAL RELATIONS OF ITALY IN 1800s
ITALY - SWITZERLAND
Postal conventions and rates
Annotated list of mail in the philatelic period

This is the first volume of a series devoted to postal relations between Italy and foreign countries in 1800s, particularly from 1850 to 1875.

Italian postal history has been progressing a lot during the last decades, above all the study of conventions and rates of Italian States, Kingdom and Republic. Not the same as to relations with foreign countries, which were based on bilateral agreements and sometimes on tacit consent or temporary usual procedures.
The aim of this work is that of creating a uniform collection of known and new details relevant to conventions and rates adopted in postal communications between Italy and foreign countries during the 1800s.

Particular care has been given to the annotated list of letters known in the philatelic period; information and descriptions, as it is possible to see in each entry, come from auction catalogues, lists, collections and several publications. It is not a comprehensive list; however, thanks to the descriptions for every letter accompanied by philatelic notes, routings, postmarks and rates, collectors can get all the elements relevant to a specific postal item. Moreover, the list is very useful for statistics: it gives an idea, though incomplete, of mail movements between every Italian State and foreign countries, and in the present volume between every Italian State and Switzerland.

Some particularly important letters and postal documents have been selected and reproduced in colour in the tables at the beginning of the book, in order to give a picture of mail under examination.

576 pp. - 36 pages with colour plates - format cm 17x24 - softbound - printed 2011
series «Handies»
Italian text

ALSO AS FREE BOOK (class C)

POSTAL RELATIONS OF ITALY IN 1800s
ITALY - FRANCE
Postal conventions and rates
Annotated list of mail in the philatelic period

This is the second volume of a series devoted to postal relations between Italy and foreign countries during the XIX century, specifically from 1850 to 1875, a quarter of century from the introduction of postage stamps in Italy to the creation of the Universal Postal Union. It is a key period, as there was a great progress in communications and the many postal conventions signed led to the unitary rate of 1875.

The work considers the whole XIX century, because it is after Napoleon's fall and the position of Italy decided by the Congress of Vienna that the idea of a renewal of postal services arose. There were the first bilateral postal conventions intended to make the forwarding of mail between the states easier, safer, and cheaper for users.

Italian postal history has been progressing during last decades, above all the study of postal conventions and rates of Italian Ancient States, Kingdom and Republic. A bit less studied the relations with foreign countries which were based - as it is known - on bilateral conventions and agreements, and sometimes on implied consent or on usual temporary procedures.

The aim of this volume, of the previous one about relations between Italy and Switzerland, and of the following ones, is that of giving a uniform picture of known or never published details relevant to conventions and rates in postal communications between Italy and foreign countries in the XIX century.

Particular attention has been given to the annotated list of mail known in the philatelic period: information comes from auction catalogues, price lists, collections and different publications. This is not a comprehensive list; however, through the description of each item, accompanied by philatelic notes, routes, postmarks and rates, collectors can have all the details relevant to the mail under examination. Moreover, the list is very useful from a statistical point of view: it illustrates postal communications between each Italian state and foreign countries, in this specific volume between each Italian state and France.

Some particularly important letters and postal documents have been selected and reproduced in colour in the tables at the beginning of the book, in order to give a picture of mail under examination.

272 pp. - more than 600 colour illustrations - format cm 21x29,7 - high quality glossy paper - hardbound - printed 2017
series "History through documents"
Italian text

ALSO AS FREE BOOK (class C)

THE POSTAL REFORM OF 1863 IN THE KINGDOM OF ITALY
Laws, Agreements, Documents, Rates

The Postal Reform of 1863 marked a turning point in the Italian postal context. The birth of the Kingdom of Italy compelled the Legislator to elaborate a rule which, after all, would not displease anyone from North to South.

The Law of 5 May 1862, n.604, which reformed the postal system, cannot be regarded as an end in itself but merely as a link between a fragmentary pre-unity postal period and a modern one after the unity of Italy. For this reason, the historical exegesis of every content is essential, by verifying all the transformations that regulations have undergone in the years before and after 1863 directly from the original texts.

The Author investigates this important historical moment in a new way, to leave the pleasure of personally verifying the legislative sources to scholars and collectors. More than 600 colour images, indeed, show, in original, more than 80 laws, agreements and decrees reported in full or with the most significant and relevant articles that retrace postal regulations from 1818 to 1888, highlighting the evolution that the various rules have undergone over the years.

This process is accompanied by more than 250 postal documents that testify the regulatory changes that have taken place mainly with regard to rates but without neglecting dates, routes and historical news.

The volume, elaborated with material from the Author's own collections, set up in many years of passionate researches, ends with a detailed list of all laws and decrees in chronological order.

124 pp. - colour ill. - softbound - printed 2018
Italian text

POSTAL RATES, FREE POSTAGES, POSTAL LAWS AND DECREES
DURING THE NAPOLEON'S KINGDOM OF ITALY
1805-1814

The book represents a valid instrument for collectors to know better some difficult aspects of the postal history of this period. The French occupation changed many systematic elements within the context of the Italian States, standardising and reforming the administration of post.

The author illustrates the different tariff periods 1805 to 1814 and explains every single part of the letter in a precise and detailed way.
Also the elaborate and interesting subject of free postages, often underestimated in postal history, finds its right relevance.
Finally, an appendix of decrees and postal laws completes the work.

212 pp. - colour ill. - softtbound - printed 2021
Italian and English text

From the preface by Bruno Crevato-Selvaggi

The process of unification of the postal system came to an end with the law promulgated in 1862 which entered into force on 1st January 1863, the date when the Italian post office was born, and the authors did well to consider it as the beginning of their work.

Everything was different: for each destination, rules, rates, service possibilities, routes. A real jumble in which the sender could extricate himself only with the mediation of the postal service. And, in the materiality of postal documents, all this translated into three great semiotic categories that are recognizable today: postage stamps, postmarks, handwritten indications. A redundant and costly complexity for the sender of the time. Which, however, due to a fascinating reversal of occasions over time, today is transformed into a delight and an exciting field of investigation for the researcher: this is the topic of this volume.

The three categories of signs must be read together to arrive at the decoding of the document; the reading of each postal document (letters and other objects, whether or not encumbered by accessory services) must be preceded by a careful study of the regulations, of the international treaties, in short, of the rules, of which the document is the final outcome. An exquisitely historical way of proceeding, which the authors of this beautiful volume master with certain ease.

It has already been said about the upper chronological limit - 1st January 1863 - and the choice is very correct. The authors explain the lower one: that jumble mentioned above had a first moment of simplification thanks to the creation of the General Union of the Post that dictated the first rules. Then, on 1st April 1879, the General Union became "universal".