"At the beginning of this year [1890] were discovered amongst some old Government documents at Batavia some curious and hitherto--whether here or in Europe--unknown postally used envelopes, with value indicated.... In the time of Louis XIV. it is believed that postage-stamps existed; but nobody has been able to bring them to light, consequently we have in these hand-stamped envelopes of the Dutch East Indian Company absolutely the oldest documents of philatelic lore. "The letter-sheets are all made from the same paper, and are all of the same size--namely, about 23 × 19 centimetres; whilst the side which is most interesting to us--the 'address' or 'stamp' side--is folded to a size of 103 × 88 mm. Up to the present the following values have been found:-- 3 stivers black 5 " " 5 " red 6 " black 6 " " {_double_; that is to say, two stamps {of 6 stivers side by side. 10 " " 10 " red 15 " " "On the address-side is no date stamp, and no indication of the office of departure; also the figures denoting the year are only discernible on the seal of each letter. On the specimens hitherto found are the dates from 1794 to 1809; but it is quite possible that other values may be unearthed. So far, of all the above values together, only about thirty specimens are known.... These envelopes came from various places in the Dutch Indian Archipelago." [Illustration: THE OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION OF DECEMBER 3, 1818, RELATING TO THE USE OF THE SARDINIAN LETTER SHEETS. Described in the records of the Schroeder collection as "the oldest official notification of any country in the world relating to postage stamps." MANIFESTO CAMERALE Portante notificanza che la Carta Postale-bollata, stabilita colle Regie Patenti delli 7 dello scorso novembre, sarà provvisionalmente posta in corso non filagranata; della dimensione ordinaria della Carta cosi detta da Lettere, e munita dei bolli relativi alle tre qualità della medesima pienamente conformi agli impronti lvi delineati. _In data delli 3 dicembre 1818._ TORINO, DALLA STAMPERIA REALE.] [Illustration: (_Continuation from previous page._) THE MODELS SHOW THE DEVICES FOR THE THREE DENOMINATIONS: 15, 25, AND 50 _CENTESIMI_ RESPECTIVELY. 3. Che all'epoca in cui comincierà la distribuzione della nuova carta filagranata cesserà l'uso della carta bollata non filagranata; e che i foglj rimanenti della medesima potranno essere cangiati contro altrettanti della nuova con filagrana.