Postal history: Haiti / GB / France

1854 entire sent PORT AU PRINCE and then JACMEL (HAITI) to MARSEILLE via Southampton, LONDON, CALAIS & PARIS.

Great panoply of postal markings telling the story of its journey and how the transatlantic mail network operated, including London transit mark and French accounting mark used for mail arriving via GB showing amount due on arrival in Francs (1 Fr 6).

Jacmel was a port that was part of the British trade and postal network as evinced by fact that GB QV stamps were in use with a Jacmel postmark. As Haiti had no postal agreement with France, the British packet steamer fleet was used to carry mail to Europe.

Commercial letter in French relating to coffee trade from Haitian trading house Rabeau Bros to Pastre Bros a Marseille merchant with strong Caribbean ties, bemoaning the poor state of the market etc. coffee prices were slumping at the time due a production glut. Also talks about weak forex rate between Haitian piastre gourde and the franc.