It's with great pleasure that I can report the first official verification that Abbott cards in Arabic were printed and used.

The finding comes from Joe Horn of Texas, who forwarded images of the card seen here. This one is especially interesting as it also bears an error. Look closely, and you'll see that it was mailed from St. Pierre and Miquelon, but on the wrong card!

Somehow a card depicting New Caledonia was used on this mailing, not the standard St. Pierre view of fishing boats in the harbor. As this is the only card of its type seen, it can't be said for sure if this is unique or all cards like it received similar treatment.

Postmarked August 21, 1959 from St. Pierre, the card was sent to Lebanon. Dates of similar cards sent to the U.S. range from July 27-September 6, with Canadian addresses postmarked from July 28-30. A single reported card sent to Hong Kong is postmarked August 21, the same date as the one to Lebanon.

The point that this "wrong view" card exists at all leads me to believe that Abbott probably printed the text of all cards at one location and then forwarded them to their agents in each respective country for franking and posting.

The search continues! What further finds are out there?