1894 part letters (2) from R.A. de Villard to F. Gregson, Secretary of the Chinkiang Municipal Council, referring to the final design (14 Apr.) after the alterations suggested by Gregson and the difficulty of finding a printer due to the expensive cost of lithographic stones in relation to the small quantities of stamps to be printed from them and the second letter (5 July) informing Gregson of the fire on 29 June which seriously damaged the printing works and finished stones, and describing de Villard's subsequent action of having sent his brother-in-law Thomas Deighton to Japan to arrange and oversee the printing of the stamps there; accompanying this letter is an estimate of the printing cost signed R.A. de Villard and showing oval "MUNICIPAL COUNCIL/CHINKIANG" h.s. in violet. There is also an invoice from the Tokyo Tsukiji Type Foundry dated 15 July 1894 initialled "RAdV" and a memo (23 July 1894) from S.C. Farnham & Co., to E.J. Allen, Acting Postmaster in Shanghai quoting prices for the letter boxes Gregson had requested. Fascinating historical documentation of the first issue of postage stamps of Chinkiang and its background