A Concise History of the French Post Office: From Its Origins to the Present Time

This edition is the first synthesis published in English, dealing with the general history of the postal services or the Post Office, in France, from the origins to the present time gathering different studies.

Two early books written by one of the first historian of the postal Ancient Regime and promotor of the French postal museum in Paris, Eugene Vaille, had already founded a large part of the French historiography about the postal issue:Histoire des postes francaises jusqu'a la Revolution (Presses universitaires de France, 1946), Histoire des postes francaises depuis la Revolution (Presses universitaires de France, 1947).

Then, a recent collective work, directed by Muriel Le Roux, historian at the CNRS and Sebastien Richez, historian at the comite pour l'histoire de La Poste, studies the contemporary history of this French administration, transformed in a public company in 1991: Breve histoire de la Poste en France depuis 1945(PIE Peter Lang, 2016).

These texts have been translated by Kenneth BERRY for Vaille, and Georgina BANFIELD for those edited by Le Roux and Richez.