Russie

Lot of 15 unique passports from various countries, featuring the occupied Baltics during the Great War, nineteenth century travellers to Russia, some notable names, and assorted matters of interest. Some were issued for one specific journey, others for longer term open travel, with examples concerning citizenship and immigrant travel. These documents vary greatly in format, including early and large single leaf printed declarations completed and signed in manuscript, to modern day wallet-sized hardcover portfolios. Together with a poem stamped by the British Passport Control office at Budapest, titled "A Morning in the Life of a Passport Control Officer." Some creasing and age-toning, the earliest passport with professionally repaired folds, otherwise the lot in very good condition overall, and containing a few examples of certain specimens seldom procured today. Unique design motifs, security elements, signatures and stamps, together these official and historical documents form a wide-reaching study of travel, including incidents of limitation on domestic movement, international travel freedom, and collaboration between nations for open borders. A fascinating collection touching upon a subject which is so prevalent on the minds of citizens all around the globe today. The earliest examples, four from the nineteenth century, include a very specific courier passport dated 1846 relating to Portuguese government affairs, a well-known clergy and author who travelled on the continent for 10 years, going as far as Russia in 1875, and a British subject who travelled to Russia in 1897. A "Passport de Courrier" issued 23 November 1846 in Paris, permitting a Portuguese courier who was carrying despatches to the Portuguese legation in Madrid, Spain, clear passage through France, specifically by way of Bordeaux and Bayonne. Also from the nineteenth century is a passport for Reverend and well-known author John Aldwell Nicholson (1830-1902), Rector of New Chapel and Prebendary in Cathedral of Cashel, valid also for his wife Caroline Editha (née Hunt 1846-1932), to travel the continent together, featuring numerous stamps and annotations from places visited, for example Sweden, Italy, and Russia. A large single-leaf passport featuring 2 Russian stamps, issued in London on 18 August 1897 Alexander Kidd, a "British subject travelling on the continent" who went to Russia. We also find a German certificate of citizenship, "Heimatschein" [Homeland Certificate] issued 14 Mai 1856 to a person whose surname is Daitz, who had evidently arrived in Germany on 26 November 1834. The numbered document being #20 and the date is approaching mid-year, which suggests that not many of these were granted annually.