Petit Almanach Postal et Telegraphique

(Paris), 1918. Softcover. Very good. (32)pp. A miniature almanac featuring many of the expected reference data - dates of eclipses, tax and postage rates, and saints days - as well as information strictly relevant to the book's contemporary moment. Among these is the cost of sending a telegram, at 65 centimes for a domestic message between one and ten words, 5 more centimes per additional word, and surcharges for particularly lengthy missives. For rates for international communications, the reader is directed to consult their local telegraph office. The almanac's interest in a global communications network is no doubt a condition of the year of its printing, when many foreign nationals and soldiers were sending wires and all manner of material all over Europe; hence available too is the information on tariffs in France, Algeria, Tunisia, and other colonies, as well as basic rules for declaring the value of goods. The whole exemplifies the changing genre of the almanac to meet the changing patterns of a globalizing world. Bound in white paper wrappers with four-leaf clover at upper cover. Modest overall soiling and rubbing, interior quite clean. Very good. Only one copy recorded in OCLC, and apparently with a different binding. (1 7/8 1 3/8 in.)