Airmail etiquette

Imprinted etiquette on an envelope (Thailand),

This 1959 cover from the Australian Antarctic Territory has a plain dark blue airmail etiquette in the upper left corner.

An airmail etiquette, often shortened to just etiquette, is a label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail. The term is from French étiquette "label, sticker" (cognate to stick), from which also comes the English word etiquette "rules of behavior".

Use

Because the etiquettes are just instructions to postal clerks, and have no monetary value, their printing and distribution need not be as carefully controlled as for postage stamps, and most are privately produced. The usual design is a plain blue oblong, with the phrases "AIR MAIL" and/or "PAR AVION" in white letters. Airlines and hotels have also produced etiquettes, some quite attractive.

The airmail etiquette may be omitted if airmail stamps are used on the letter, and in some cases even this is not necessary if a country sends out all its foreign mail by air. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, you may simply write "PAR AVION -- BY AIR MAIL" on the envelope, even though etiquettes are available free from post offices.^[1]

See also

• Airmail stamps of Denmark
• List of United States airmail stamps

References

Further reading

• Baldwin, N.C. "Collecting Etiquettes." Stamp Review. (May 1938).
• Field, Francis J. Air Mail Labels (etiquettes). Sutton Coldfield: Francis J. Field, Ltd., 1940 32p. Series Title: The Aero Field Handbook; no. 5.
• Jones, Frank G. Etiquettes: Par Avion - By Air Mail. London: Frank G. Jones Associates, 1992 40p.
• Müller, Frank. Catalogue des etiquettes aéropostales: émises par les administrations postales, les compagnies de navigation aérienne, etc. Paris: La Maison de la poste aérienne, 1947 288p.
• Postal Label Study Group. Mair Airmail Label Catalog.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Airmail.

• Riga Stamps page on etiquettes, with many pictures

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