International Postal Reforms [2 volume set] ; Volume 1 Postal Reforms and the Historical Background to the Postage Stamp 1550 to 1839 Volume 2 The Birth of the Postage Stamp and its International Effects 1840 to 1898

The first volume of this new examination of the history of international postal reforms, Postal Reforms and the Historical Background to the Postage Stamp 1550 to 1839, examines in detail Rowland Hill s 1837 Post Office Reform; its Importance and Practicability pamphlet. It is usually cited as the sole source for the reduction of postage rates and the introduction of postage stamps both labels and postal stationery in Britain. This publication places Hill s work in its true historical context and traces the origins of the high postal rates that he sought to reduce, starting from the posts of the Elizabethan Court and the European merchant princes of the 16th and 17th centuries. It then describes the early 19th century postal rate inflation in Britain and elsewhere, along with the careers of many reformers before Hill (including those in Britain, France, America, India and Australia). It shows that Hill was directly inspired to take up the study of the Post Office by earlier reformers including John Palmer and Robert Wallace. The second volume The Birth of the Postage Stamp and its International Effects 1840 to 1898, traces the story of the introduction of cheap postage in Britain and around the world following the August 1839 Penny Postage Act. The most detailed analysis yet to be published of the experimental and very short-lived (5 December 1839 to 9 January 1840) Uniform 4d Postage Period , is followed by the story of how Uniform Penny Postage operated before the 1d Black and Mulready stationery were made available in May 1840.…