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Morocco - Jewish mail postal service: small commercial cover addressed to "Mr. Tayeb Mohamed Mekki", tied by blue octogonal negative seal handstamp belonging to the 56km long FEZ-MEKNES route, established by the Jewish Frenchman Messod Bensimon, a former headmaster of the Jewish Alliance School in Fez who later became a businessman, in January 1897. This route was one of 21 established by various local businessmen, many of them Jewish (at least 13), who made use of their provincial contacts to create a native Moroccan network of communications separate from those established by the imperial powers in the country, between towns using hired couriers - "Rekkas". The octogonal shape of the seal indicates that this piece of mail was for private/commercial use; an analogous round seal for the route would have been used for official or consular mail. These courier-links were established between 1891 and 1906, and all closed down by 1911; Bensimon's line was one of the shorter-lived routes, existing no more than 4 years. Cover torn open at back, repaired & complete.