A letter is a piece of life.
— Adolf Deissmann
| Penny wise | |
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Somehow the vision of sending a letter anywhere in the world for a penny didn't quite come to pass... but there are numerous histories of the Penny Post and its attempt to become the universal rate. An extensive and heavily illustrated article about British postage and the Penny Post can be found at the Postal History section of this Regency site, and there's a 1908 New York Times article announcing Penny Postage between the U.S. and U.K.
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Want to read more about The Present State of London ("present" being 1681)? The book is available at various auctions, generally for over $1000. There's a rather morbid description of the life of Elihu Burritt in an 1877 New York Times article about his approaching death. He was a self-taught Connecticut blacksmith who by the age of 30 had learned 50 languages, and became active in international peace efforts. He published several books, and a collection of his letters and journals is available in libraries; enter your location to find libraries near you. Burritt wrote an article on Ocean Penny Postage for the New York Times in 1854. The map which was used for Canada's Imperial Penny Postage stamp shown on page 11 (and at left) can be seen at the British Postal Museum & Archives' online gallery. There's an interesting story about why this stamp was released on Christmas, a day when post offices would normally be closed. It's claimed that the designer originally meant its release for the birthday of the Prince of Wales, but found himself explaining to Queen Victoria that the stamp would commemorate "the Prince's birthday". Victoria, who was not very fond of the Prince of Wales, asked "Which Prince?" The designer, thinking quickly, answered "The Prince of Peace", so the release date had to be changed.
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| A hand-colored version of the prepaid envelope designed by William Mulready (see page 8), as well as parodies that arose, can be found at Alphabetilately. Some of the scans are of low resolution, but clicking on them will bring up a better picture. An Indian version of the Ocean Penny Postage envelopes can be seen about halfway down this page; and this site has some American entries in the campaign.
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| Christopher Morley |
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If you enjoy the breezy style of the essay on page 12, you might be interested in the collection it came from, Mince Pie. Morley wrote for the New York Evening Post, helped found the Saturday Review of Literature, founded the Sherlock Holmes fan group Baker Street Irregulars, revised Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, and was active in the early Book-of-the-Month Club, as well as writing numerous books. Mince Pie, which contains several other correspondence-related essays among its more than four dozen, is available for online reading at Project Gutenberg, as are several of his other books. | Letter books |
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The books mentioned in Letters to LEX are all available at Powell's or other bookstores: A Civil War Courtship, The Custer Story, and collections of the letters of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Lucretia Coffin Mott.
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| Basil and Libanius |
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The book Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers that the correspondence in The World of Letters was taken from is available at Powell's and in libraries, and on other web sites. The authenticity of some of Libanius' letters is discussed by Raffaella Cribiore in the book The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch. A compendium of the letters of Libanius is available from libraries. St. Basil the Great was influential in defining monasticism as it is practiced today, was involved in the Nicene-Arian controversy, and set up a ministering center known as the Basiliad. Libanius was a Greek rhetorician who wrote more than 1500 surviving letters; he also wrote a funeral oration for Emperor Julian, a personal friend. |
| Naming Santa Claus |
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Here's another article on Santa's Elves. How did a town get a name like that, you ask? (We did.) They were originally going to be Santa Fe, but there was already a town with a post office with that name in Indiana. There are various versions of how the current name was chosen – here's one; here's another. The Post Office, shown at left, is a rather underwhelming building, considering the volume of mail it receives.
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| Clicking on most of the books on this page will take you to Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore. You can also use the search engine to the left. Any purchase you make by following one of these links will help support LEX – not just these items but any book or DVD in their inventory. | |
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The Letter Exchange
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