Lebanon 1935 — Philatelic Cover with Address Written in Ten Languages, Original Enclosure
A remarkable and unusual philatelic cover despatched from Beyrouth (Beirut), République Libanaise, 22 November 1935, to David W. Bertrand, Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, USA. Franked with six values of the Lebanese pictorial definitive series — 0.10, 0.20, 0.25 (Baalbek), 0.50 (landscape), and 0.50 airmail (Rachaya) — all tied by Beyrouth cds.
The cover was produced to order by E. T. Baroody of Berwyn, Illinois, a philatelic cover specialist whose productions were advertised in Linn's Stamp News. The addressee's name is written in ten languages: Arabic, Hindi, Syriac, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, and English.
The original printed enclosure from Baroody survives with the cover, explaining its creation, noting the addition of a sixth stamp variety as a goodwill gesture, and advertising seven further covers in the 1935 series at $1.70 with an olive wood paper cutter premium. A complete and documented unit of this type is rarely encountered.
Condition: Front fine; reverse with some age toning to flap area as visible in photographs.