McQueen's work, originally published in 1993, meticulously chronicles the "Jusqu’à" (French for "as far as" or "until") markings used on international mail from the early 20th century through the mid-1950s. What are Jusqu’à Markings?
When a letter was mailed from, say, London to Buenos Aires, the local post office had to decide where the land route ended and the air route began. The Jusqu’à marking was a bilingual or trilingual directional instruction—typically reading "Jusqu’à Paris" (Up to Paris) or "Jusqu’à Marseille" —applied to envelopes to instruct transit post offices. Jusqu-a Airmail Markings- A Study Ian McQueen
McQueen’s work is widely regarded as the on these auxiliary markings. The Jusqu’à marking was a bilingual or trilingual
In the pantheon of philatelic literature, few works manage to carve a niche as deep, yet remain as surprisingly underappreciated, as Ian McQueen’s seminal study on Jusqu’à airmail markings. For the uninitiated, the French term Jusqu’à —meaning “up to” or “as far as”—represents a fascinating procedural footnote in the history of international postal delivery. For the dedicated collector of airmail postal history, however, McQueen’s work is nothing short of a Rosetta Stone. For the uninitiated, the French term Jusqu’à —meaning
McQueen dedicates a full chapter to the port of Marseille. He notes that approximately 40% of Jusqu’à markings found outside Europe are unique to the French air hub. He discovered that British mail sent via the "Empire Route" frequently bore hybrid markings—English text with French prepositions—evidence of the diplomatic friction between the British GPO and French Aéropostale.