INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of 1863 Turkey followed the example of Great Britain and other countries by adopting adhesive labels for the prepayment of the postage, the first government stamps being issued during the reign of Sultan Abdul Aziz.

Until then the right to transmit mails had been conceded to various private companies, who used their own labels. Before the advent of these companies mails were transported by the Consular services of various European Powers, and this rival system was continued even after the Turkish post offices had begun to operate, though it was then used almost exclusively ...