1860 PARIS TO LONDON COVER WITH
ROULETTE DE PETITE POINTS CARRE & BOXED "PD"
YVERT #16  --  SCOTT#18
Nice Rare Book historical connection between Paris, London and New York

Paris to London – 1853-60 - Second Empire Issue - 40 Centime, Orange. Lovely example of the “Roulette de Petit Points Carre” cancellation variety.  Nice Cross Channel cover from Paris to London, cancelled w/ Paris 12 Octobre 1860 cds (petit cachet à date), Red London “PAID” receiving. mark and Red boxed “PD” (PD dans un rectangle) showing full postage paid to destination .

NOTES:
The letter is signed Gustave Bossange of the famous Parisian bookseller and antiquarian family of Martin Bossange and his son Hector Bossange. Letter is addressed to Henry Stevens, Esq. of No 4 Trafalgar Square. The contents of the letter askS about the New York price of Audubon's Birds of America, 8vo, full Moroccan gilt edge version. From Hector Bossange & Fils, Paris.

Henry Stevens (1819-1886) was a London bookseller, bibliographer, publisher, and an expert on early editions of the English Bible and early voyages and travels to America. He helped build up the collections of John Carter Brown and James Lenox, as well as the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. In 1845, Stevens moved to London and became an agent for the British Museum for procuring books from the Americas.