1834 Letter To Bordeaux

I have this interesting cover from London to Bordeaux with a letter dated 1834.. Has a Bordeaux via Calais postmark on front, a Bordeaux mark on back with a date I cannot make out, and a what I assume is a London postmark.

I think it was charged 1sh 8d but am not sure as there is also a 1/2 mark on top left.

The letter is in French and is dated 26th of ????? 1834 but cannot make out the month.

I am also trying to decipher the London postmark. Obviously the 34 is the year. F for February maybe, but not sure it matches the letter date so I am a but confused.

A couple of small points to help you get started:

The month of sending is 9bre = November.

The big rate on the front is 19 (decimes) which would have to be paid by the recipient.

The 1/2 (which appears twice on the front) might be a rate (prepaid in London to the border?) or might not. An expert will know.

In addition, it would help to show all of the back, as there are sometimes further rate information given there.

Jan

Here is copy of the entire back

That is how the month got its name, being the ninth in the old Roman calendar. I have never before seen it written like this. The sender was way ahead of today's kids and their cell phones.

Indeed. Note also at the bottom of the same scan: Xbre = December.

Jan

And of course 8bre for October

Who bids 7bre?

(not mine)

The inland letter rate in 1834 London to Dover where the boats would sail to Calais would be 7d. If the 18 is the French portion, where is the English payment.

Does have anyone have any idea on the small circle mark?

I've done a bit of reading on this. Bear in mind that my expertise is more with letters England to Netherlands and Netherlands to France.

I can say the following:

The round mark on the front reads: ANGLETERRE PAR CALAIS, and would have been applied in Calais.

The small round mark on the back (with the F) was applied in the Foreign Office of the General Post Office of London to all mail from London to the continent and was used from 1815 to 1836. All examples I saw had an F, so I guess that this means "Foreign". After this comes the year (in two digits). I could not find any explanation of the other number, but all examples I saw were different.

The inland rate from London to Dover would be 8d (50-80 miles). Then there is the cost Dover to Calais, which I am guessing was 6d for a total of 1/2 (one shilling two pence) which was prepaid by the sender and indicated by the red 1/2 on the front. (I am basing this on the examples Dover to Hellevoetsluis which had a cost of 8d for a total of 1/4 to the Netherlands.) Then the internal rate Calais to Bordeaux I presume was 19 decimes and would have been paid by the recipient. This agrees with a couple of contemporary examples I have from the Netherlands to Bordeaux where the cost Valenciennes to Bordeaux was 18 decimes for a slightly shorter distance.

If anybody has any corrections for what I have given above, please let me know.

Jan

Jan,
thank you for all that great information. The only thing I see missing would the 8d mark for the London to Dover portion of the trip. I do not see an 8 anywhere. There is what looks like remnant of a mark on the top to the right of the 1/2, but no idea what that could be.
regards,
Martin