Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, was founded in 1558 and postal markings were first introduced in 1764. The three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 saw the independent nation of Poland disappear. The postal services in the areas occupied by Germany and Austria were absorbed into those countries' postal services. In 1772 the area occupied by Austria was created into the Kingdom of Galicia, a part of the Austrian Empire. This lasted till 1918. The Duchy of Warsaw was created briefly, between 1807 and 1813, by Napoleon I of France, from Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. In 1815, following Napoleons' defeat in 1813, the Congress of Vienna, created Congress Poland out of the Duchy of Warsaw and also established the Free City of Kraków. Congress Poland was placed under the control of Russia and the postal service was given autonomy in 1815. In 1851 the postal service was put under the control of the Russian post office department regional office in St Petersburg. In 1855 control was restored for a while to the Congress Kingdom but following the uprising in 1863 again came under Russian control from 1866 and continued until World War I. In November 1918 the Second Polish Republic was created.

1958 was the 400th anniversary of the Polish postal service and was commemorated with an issue of seven stamps, a miniature sheet, a book "400 Lat Poczty Polskiej", a stamp exhibition in Warsaw and a number of commemorative postmarks.

History

The earliest record of a postal system in Poland is, from the year 1387, of merchants who organised a private system and introduced horse riders to replace foot letter carriers.Bojanowicz, 1979, p.1 In 1530 a monthly postal service from Kraków to Rome was introduced by the Fugger bankers of Venice.Kamienski, 1993, p.31

On 17 October 1558 Sigismund II Augustus appointed Prospero Provano, an Italian merchant living in Kraków, to organise a postal service in Poland. He was paid 1,500 thalers per annum by the royal treasury to run the postal service. He merged all the private postal services into a single postal service. Royal mail and mail from some monastic orders was carried free. All other mail was paid for.

Meanwhile, since 1516, the house of Thurn and Taxis had been running an international postal delivery service. The Polish King decided to transfer the Polish postal system to the Taxis family and did this on 11 July 1562. Christopher Taxis received the same annual salary as Provano. He ran the system as a commercial venture and because of his extravagance the postal system deteriorated. Sigismund II Augustus terminated the contract with the Taxis family.

On 9 January 1564 Peter Moffon was appointed postmaster general by the Polish King. Moffon, another Italian merchant living in Kraków, was given the postal contract for five years. On 15 June 1569 he was replaced by Sebastiano Montelupi. When King Sigismund Augustus died in 1572, Montelupi continued the service at his own expense for two years. The public postal service then ceased for a period of some 11 years, although a system reserved to royal use was rebuilt from 1574 onwards.Kamienski, 1993, p.32

On 29 January 1583 Sebastiano Montelupi and his nephew (and adopted heir), Valerio Montelupi, were given a contract to run the postal service for five years. When giving the contract the King, Stefan Batory, introduced a uniform postal rate of 4 groszy per letter not exceeding 1 łut (about 12.66 grams) for any distance in Poland. This was the first uniform postal rate to be introduced in the world. Sebastiano Montelupi died in 1600 aged 84 and Valerio Montelupi continued to run the postal service till his death in 1613.400 Lat Poczty Polskiej, 1958, p.24-25

Free City of Kraków In 1815 the Free City of Kraków had a population of 95,000, of whom 23,000 were actually in Kraków, the remainder in the surrounding area. Under the constitution that it had been given the city was responsible for the post.400 Lat Poczty Polskiej, 1958, p.66-68

A central post office was already in existence, from the period when Kraków was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. On 1 June 1816 the Post Office of the Free City of Kraków took control of the existing central post office. Its staff consisted of a director, four secretarial staff, two postmen and a conductor.The Polish word used, "konduktor", translates to "conductor" – no explanation is given in the source what this job is. Two post stations were established in Krzeszowice and Cło. Post routes to and from each of the three Polish areas, Galicia, Congress Poland and Prussia were soon established.

Under the constitution the Free City had the exclusive right to private mail. The three powers could only transport official mail. However, on 1 December 1816 the Prussian Government set up a post office and a mail delivery from Kraków to Prussia. Despite protests from the Free City the Prussians continued. On 16 May 1818 the Austrians followed suit, set up a post office and a mail delivery to Galicia.Ilustrowany Katalog Znaczkow Polskich, 1973, p21

In the first full financial year, 1816/17, the Kraków post office had a profit of 18,887 złoty. By 1822/23, because of the competition, this had reduced to 2,802 złoty, despite the increase in population and increase in traffic.

The delivery of letters was undertaken by two postmen, they collected 4 groszy for each letter delivered or 8 groszy if it was a money letter. In 1825 these fees were reduced by half.

In the year 1833/4 the Kraków post office dealt with a total of 66,910 letters, an average of 185 per day. In December 1834 the senate of the Free City of Kraków received a notice from Congress Poland that they would be setting up a post office in Kraków. Protests brought no result. In August 1836 the Free City of Kraków came to an agreement with Congress Poland to cease operating their own post office and to rent their post office building to them from 1837. In return Kraków was to receive an annual fee of 12,000 złoty.

The Prussian post office used three different date stamps (1) a two line handstamp, (2) a two ring cancel and (3) a single ring cancel – all with KRAKAU and the date. The Austrian post office used a single line handstamp with the text CRACAU. The Congress Poland post office used two datestamps one with a single outer ring and one with a double outer ring with text KRAKÓW.

Postmarks of the Congress Kingdom

From 1815 the postmarks were in Polish. From 1860 the postmarks were in Russian and Polish. From 1871 the postmarks were with Russian inscriptions only.S V Prigara, The Russian post in the Empire, Turkey, China, and the post in the Kingdom of Poland

The different types of standard postmarks that were used are as follows:

One-line inscription in Polish – earliest known is 1821, latest is 1870 One-line inscription in Polish in rectangular frame – earliest 1829, latest 1870 Two-line inscription, with town name in Polish and date in Latin – earliest 1814, latest 1844 Two-line inscription in Russian and Polish – earliest 1860, latest 1870 Two-line inscription in Russian and Polish in rectangular frame – earliest 1860, latest 1870 Two-line inscription in Russian – earliest 1871, latest 1890 Three-line inscription in Russian in rectangular frame – earliest 1871, latest 1877 Circular postmark with inscription in Polish and two-line date in numerals – earliest 1829, latest 1868 Circular postmark with inscription in Russian and Polish and two-line date in numerals, earliest 1860, latest 1870 Circular postmark with inscription in Russian – latest 1917 Four concentric circles with a number in the centre, the number denoting the post office – earliest 1858, latest 1870

Other rare non-standard postmarks are also known.

First Polish stamp

The first Polish stamp was issued for the Congress Kingdom on 1 January 1860 (Gregorian calendar). Because 1 January was a Sunday the stamp was not actually available until the following day. The design was similar to the contemporary Russian stamps with the arms of the Congress Kingdom in the centre. The engraving was done by the Polish Bank engraver Henryk Mejer. The drawings he used were found in the archives at St Petersburg but the name of the artist remains unknown. The stamps were printed by the government printers in Warsaw on the orders of the Congress Kingdom postal service. The letterpress machine used was invented by Izrael Abraham Staffel (1814–1884) for printing in two colours. The machine was capable of printing 1,000 sheets per hour and it had a counting device which ensured an accurate count. Apart from these facts very little more is known about the machine.Bojanowicz, 1979, p.34

The printing was done without consultation of the Russian postal service. The regional office in St Petersburg only approved afterwards, on 4 March 1860 (Gregorian calendar). These stamps could only be used within the Congress Kingdom and to Russia. Letters to other countries had to be paid for in cash and unstamped. It is believed that some three million of these stamps were printed. When the stamps were withdrawn from use on 1 April 1865 (Gregorian calendar) a total of 208,515 stamps were destroyed; Russian stamps had to be used from that day onwards.Polskie Znaki Pocztowe, vol I, p.93-96

In 1915 the Congress Kingdom was occupied by the Central Powers.

Austrian occupation 1915–1918 Austria occupied the southern part of Congress Poland; no special stamps were issued; Austrian stamps were made available. Austrian field post offices were set up which used postmarks with Polish town names.

The stamps that were made available were:Katalog Polskich Znaków Pocztowych, 2001, Vol 2, Andrzej Fischer Most of the Austro-Hungarian Military Post general issues from 1915 to 1918 – 75 different stamps Some of the Bosnia and Herzegovina issues from the period 1904 to 1916 – 41 different stamps Some of the Austria issues from the period 1908 to 1916 – 42 different stamps

In addition one postcard from Bosnia and Herzegovina and four postcards of the Austro-Hungarian Military Post general issues were made available.

Russian datestamps were replaced with Austrian datestamps. The postmarks were inscribed K. u. K. ETAPPENPOSTAMT at the top and the Polish town name at the bottom.

The list of post office with these datestamps are as under, names in bracket are changes in name which took place laterPolskie Znaki Pocztowe, vol IV, p.248-249 Annopol Lubelski Belchatów Bełżyce Bialobrzegi Kreis Radom Bilgoraj Busk in Polen Chęciny Chmielnik Cholm (Chełm) Dąbrowa in Polen DębIin in Polen Działoszyce Działoszyn Gorzkowice Granica Grubleszow (Hrubieszów) lłza Iwaniska in Polen Janów in PolenJedlińsk Jędrzejów Kazimierza Wielka Kielce Klimontów Klomnice Koniecpol Końsk Koprzywnica Kozienice Kraśnik Krasnostaw Lipsko Lubartów Lublin Łaszczów Łęczna Miechów Nowa BrzeżnicaNowoaleksandrya (Pulawy) Noworadomsk Nowy Korczyn Olkusz Opatów in Polen Opoczno in Polen Opole Kreis Pulawy Ossyaków Ostrowiec Ozarów Kreis Opatów in Polen Pajęczno Piaski Kreis Lublin Pilica Pińczów Piotrków Pradła Proszowice Przedbórz Kreis Końsk PrzysuchaPuławy Radom Radoszyce Kreis Końsk Rudniki Sandomierz Silniczka Skała in Polen Skalbmierz Skaryszew in Polen Skarżysko Sławków in Polen Słomniki Solec Kreis Wierzbnik Staszów Stopnica Strzemieszyce Suchedniów SuIejów SzczebrzeszynSzczekociny Szczerców Szydlow Szydłowiec Tarnogród Tomaszów Kreis Tomaszów Wąwolnica Widawa Wierzbnik Włoszczowa Wodzisław Wolborz Wolbrom Zaklików Zamość Zawichost Zwierzyniec Kreis Zamość Żarki

German occupation 1915–1918

The area occupied by Germany was named "General Government Warsaw" (General-Gouvernement Warschau).