The world's first postal stationery

It was the painter William Mulready who illustrated the world's first postal stationery. Postal stationery is a document in which the postage due has been paid in advance by the imprint of a stamp or by an indication that postage has been paid. The postal stationery, a franked folding letter, appeared simultaneously with the issuance of the first stamps in 1840.

The value of the folded letter was one penny. In its unfolded form, one could read in large letters: POSTAGE. When the letter was folded, one could read at the bottom: 'POSTAGE ONE PENNY' in a font that does not appear on my computer. Why one penny? In 1840, the so-called uniform postal rate of one penny came into effect for the entire territory of what was then Great Britain. Before that, various postal services existed with their own postal rates and fees. Postal services that were certainly not cheap and certainly not reliable. There was a general postal service, but it was very expensive. The politicians in Great Britain wanted to put an end to this, resulting in a major reorganization, a reform of the postal service. In 1837, Rowland Hill published a brochure with ideas to arrive at a uniform postal rate. His main idea was to introduce a fixed rate based on weight: one penny for every half ounce, no longer taking into account distance or the number of sheets of paper per postal item. Envelopes hardly existed, and most mail senders used sheets of paper that were folded to the size of modern envelopes. These folded sheets were then sealed and provided with an address. The rates were based on the number of sheets of paper and the distance from the sender to the recipient. The addressee had to pay the postage. Rowland Hill proposed selling prepaid sheets of paper to the public through the post office. That was easier, for the sender, the postal service, and the recipient. At the same time, he proposed a 'label' with an adhesive layer and printed with the rate of one penny that could be pasted onto a folded sheet of paper. These labeled sheets of paper could therefore be bought at the post office and used whenever one wanted. A Parliamentary Committee took note of Rowland Hill's ideas and proceeded to develop them further. The results were published in the Act of Parliament of August 1839. Hill was invited by the Ministry of Finance, not by 'The Post Office', to further develop his ideas. An appeal to participate in a competition for designs regarding pre-stamped sheets of paper and gummed labels appeared in the newspaper 'The Times'. Amounts of £200 and £100 were made available by the Minister of Finance as prize money for the two best designs. More than 2600 entries were received and the prize money was increased by three times £100. Among the ideas that had been submitted were also suggestions, such as the use of sheets of paper with a watermark, embossed seal impressions, and images decorated in such a way that they were difficult to reproduce. Several 'franked wrappers' were also found among the submissions, the later newspaper bands. The Minister thought it better to choose the pre-franked sheet of paper as the winner from the ideas, because he expected little from the pre-franked, gummed labels. William Mulready was the winner of the £200 prize and was commissioned to create a design on a sheet of pre-stamped paper. That order was issued on December 12, 1839. His design was approved, and John Thompson was commissioned to engrave the design in steel. The names of the designer, W. Mulready, and the engraver, John Thompson, were incorporated into the design. Furthermore, instructions, such as postal rates, had to be stated on the sheets of paper. Sheets of paper were printed by the Clowes & Sons printing house, and sales at post offices began on May 1, 1840. Two types were available: a black one-penny note and a blue one of two pence. However, the postage stamp was used much more frequently by senders, and the pre-franked folding letter was taken off the market as early as 1844. It was not until years later that the pre-franked folding letter and pre-franked envelope regained popularity. Collectors of postal stationery primarily seek out used Mulready folding letters, and if they find one, they are willing to pay a lot of money for it! The earliest known date of use is May 6, 1840. However, forgeries exist, so be careful……