The renumbering decree in English

NB: the English below is a para-by-para paraphrase of the original German, intended to convey the sense of the original, not a legally pedantic translation. Footnote refs are in (blue).

This Circular is issued on the occasion of the absorption of the outer suburbs into Vienna and the creation of new municipal districts (1). In order to reflect these changes, the following offices in Vienna (with the exception of Vienna’s Railway station post offices and the Post-packet delivery offices) have been supplied with materiel which reflects the changed conditions, to wit: arrival & departure cancellers, seals for embossing, cancellers for white-on-black impressions, money bag seals, name-cancellers for forms, registration labels, Parcel/parcel-card labels, and office name slips.

The nature & details of these requisites is set out in an attachment (2).

As a ground-rule it is assumed that the cancellers contain, in lieu of the current statement of the location in which the office is found, the designation "Wien" with the district at the side and the serial number underneath (3).

At post offices with several sections, where for each Duty (4) separate cancellers are provided, the despatch cancellers are furnished with Counter Letters [Erkennungsbuchstaben (5)] a, b, c, d etc. Clarification follows:

The letters a, b, c, d etc indicate whether (i) each Duty required its own cancellers, or (ii) one and the same canceller is used for several Duties, e.g. if the Fahrpost issuing-to-addressee handstamp is simultaneously used for the inpayments for money orders, a single canceller would suffice; it would be distinguished with the letter c since cancellers equipped with the letters a, aa, b, bb are reserved for cancelling letters and parcels on posting.

Double letters a-a, b-b etc would only be selected where staff of two different Groups (6) are together in a branch of the business acting as a single group. An example would be acceptance of Briefpost (requiring cancellers for ordinary letter and for registered letters) together with acceptance of Fahrpost (officials and weighers). They might all have to use cancellers at the same time. In such a case, double letters a-a, b-b, etc. would be used.

The cancellers of the sections of the Main Post Office (7) shall use the following counter letters:

The newspaper section will be furnished with the under-depicted cancellers:

[The original shows them both the same. We suspect the second should have ‘2’ on the second line; and quite possibly they should be I and II anyway!]

Handstamps that are designed to receive an hour indication must always be used with that hour indication in place.

Parcel cards, money letters, money orders etc must show the hour when they were issued, and the present practice, under which such items-of-value are marked with cancellers provided with space to insert the time but the time-slugs are inserted in that space such that the time cannot be seen, shall cease.

The official names of the Offices are tabulated below.

If the individual k.k. Offices already have the aforementioned new cancellers and seals, they are immediately to put the same into service; if not then this shall be done when they arrive.

Offices which have redundant cancellers, Amtssiegel and Stampiglien have to send them back by means of the usual transmittal-chit to the Warehouse [Postökonomie-Verwaltung (8)] and to list the transmitted objects on the form.

The hereditary privately-run Offices (9) are advised, that the town - and date-cancellers of those Offices which despatch several times daily shall gradually and according to need be exchanged for ones with the necessary time indication.

We use this opportunity to remind the Offices about the official regulations concerning the keeping-clean of the cancellers (Circular-Ordinance of 5 February 1884, No 4.921, Circular-Verordnungsblatt No 3 of 1884 and from 9 Jan of this year [= 1891], No 2.002, Circular-Verordnungsblatt No 1 of 1891); the regulations with regard to the secure custody of the cancellers, Circular-ordinance of 7 May 1886, No 23.328 & ditto of 7. November 1891, No 80.002 ex 1891 (Circular-Verordnungsblatt No 28 of 1891); and the regulations concerning the timely re-engraving of worn or inadequately engraved cancellers and type (Circular-ordinance ditto of 22 February 1882 Z.4.077.)

Wien, 27 November 1891

Footnotes to the above:

1. See article on the Expansion of Vienna. On 19 Dec 1890 the second major expansion had taken place: Simmering, Meidling, Hietzing, Rudolsheim, Fünfhaus, Ottakring, Hernals, Währing and Döbling had become Bezirke 11-19.
2. See illustration below, and the accompanying interpretation of what each type was used for. The whole Circularverordnung contains 18 sections on pages 183-199. The text discussed here is on pages 183-185; the accompanying illustration was printed on a 4-sided sheet of paper (with the other 3 sides blank) and inserted by the book-binder between pages 190 & 191; the second appendix - the list of Offices - is an annexe following page 199.
3. eg, their first specimen has WIEN 9/1 in the top arc with 66 under; this previously was WIEN ALSERGRUND I
4. 'Duty' is we think the correct UK term for a P O task or function
5. We usually call these 'counter letters' but have also seen 'letters of differentiation' & 'letters of distinction'.
6. At this time the Briefpost & Fahrpost were effectively two separate organisations within the Post Office.
7. NB! This refers ONLY to the Head Office at Vienna, neither to Vienna local offices nor to other Head Offices.
8. This is the warehouse or depot, which supplied equipment, postage stamps, cancellers - everything that a Post Office might require
9. 'nichtärarischen' - ie privately-owned & run, not k.k. They would have had to pay for new cancellers, while the State-run offices wouldn't.