Highly recommended handbook on this little-known aspect of the postal history of the Siege of Paris. Very well illustrated including four pages of colour plates. From the dustwrapper:
“In contrast to the dozens of balloons released during the Siege of Paris in the Franco-German War of 1870-71, other attempts to pass information are little known, particularly diplomatic means, open only to the upper crust. Besides neutral military with official missions, most widely used was the U.S. diplomatic pouch, exchanged weekly between opposing troops. Singular opportunities for outbound mail from Paris were departures of distinguished foreigners. An inventive means for messages into Paris was The Times. Bits of multinational information have been retrieved from diverse sources, compared and checked against each other and integrated into a consistent web of adventure stories, illustrated with many examples of covers and pictures of the main participants. Methods for recognizing these extremely rare covers are described, together with an inventory of known ones. Only recently have prices become realistic, after the true nature of this material has been recognized.”