A hitherto untapped mine of postal history information

Abstract

Sometimes, important information may be found by chance in sources where one least expects to find it. This is exactly what happened when last November a friend of mine casually showed me a copy of "Guida Generale di Malta e Gozo per l'anno 1905" published in Italian by the local firm Libreria Editrice Scolastica Giovanni Muscat, which operated from Nr. 48 Strada Mercanti (Merchant's Street), Valletta, Malta. At this stage it is good for one to be reminded that besides English, Italian was the other official language in use in the Maltese islands at the time. As I had already encountered very scant references to this publication sparsed in some old philatelic literature, instinctively I looked for anything which might have a postal connection. Going through the extremely informative contents of this compendium I was surprised when unexpectedly I stumbled upon a complete list of all the Post Office officials working in the Administration of the GPO at the time, including their grade and the salary they earned. Further down the same page there was also a separate listing for those working in the Branch Post Offices (BPOs). I was more than happy when in another section I found a reprint of the Post Office Guide. [excerpt]