HISTORY OF THE LETTER

The first recorded handwritten letter (epistle) was by Persian Queen Atossa around 500 BC.

The stamped letter we know today came into being in the reign of Queen Victoria in 1840.

Before this date letters did not have stamps or envelopes and the receiver of the letter had to pay on its receipt.

Letters were folded and sealed by wax with ring or hand seal.

The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Ancient Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 B.C.E.).

Babylonians wrote astronomical observations on bricks of clay, the Chinese tablets of stone on ancient monuments, the introduction of characters from nature, fire, water, beasts of the earth and birds of flight, the beginning of the Syllabic method of writing i.e. the use of characters to represent sounds.

Egyptian papyrus made possible the ancient libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum. The Roman Emperor Claudius developed a new stronger type of cross layered papyrus which was not damaged by use of the calamus

Born 1 august 10 B.CLugdunum (Lyon)Dead 13 oktober 54 A.D RomClaudius

Papyrus became so popular a writing material that laws where introduced preventing it leaving its country of origin in the East. This caused a shortage of papyrus in the West which led to the introduction of new writing materials Vellum and Parchment produced from animal skins. Saxons of the dark ages used the bark of the beech tree, called boc, from whence comes the word book.

The style (pen) used in ancient times was made from wood, metal or bone shaped to a point. A reed was used on papyrus and parchment dipped in Indian/China ink, made from the secretion of cuttlefish. The 5th century saw the use of (goose) quills in Saxon England.Lead pencils were used in ancient Greece but only as a temporary marker to be rubbed out later. It wasn’t until the 14th century that pencils made from a lead composite became popular and in common use as a writing implement.

About the 10th century from the Far East to the West came cotton paper which was in common use by the 12th century. A great advance in writing material came in the 14th century with the introduction of paper made from linen rags. This method of making paper continued for several hundred years.

During the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.E.–207 B.C.E.) and was substantially expanded during the subsequent Han Dynasty. The origins of a Chinese mail system may go back to the Shang Dynasty, from (1600 B.C.E.–1100 B.C.E.). Whatever its origin, the Chinese Postal Service has clear title to the world's oldest continuously operating mail system. Today's Chinese mail system is continuous with one that was probably formalized under the Qin Dynasty.

The Roman Emperor Trajan commanded that positus (carriers) be stationed at regular distances with chariots waiting to transport important documents, this is where the word post is derived.

Born: 18 september 53 A.D,Dead: 9 august 117 A.D

The first well documented postal service in Europe is that of Rome. Organized at the time of Augustus Caesar (62 B.C.E.–AD 14), it may also be the first true mail service. The service was called cursus publicus and was provided with light carriages called rhedæ with fast horses. Additionally, there was another slower service equipped with two-wheeled carts (birolæ) pulled by oxen. This service was reserved for government correspondence. Another service for citizens was later added.

Prior to 1840 letters were delivered by courier, coach or horse rider. The receiver of the letter had to pay on its receipt and the cost was dependant on the number of pages and distance travelled. To prevent the contents of the letter from being read by others they were sealed using a coloured wax with ring or handheld seal.

In May 1840 Great Britain introduced the first prepaid stamp nationwide postal delivery service, with the Penny Black stamp (portrait of the young Queen Victoria) for letters under half an ounce and the Twopenny Blue stamp for letters over. This was soon followed by other countries introducing similar systems.

The United States introduced a limited postal service in August 1842 followed by a uniform 5 cents charge in 1845 and standardised stamps in 1847.

Letter from Nixon

Posten, the Swedish mail service, was established in 1636 by Axel Oxenstierna, and by the 18th century it had been extended throughout the country. The same century also saw the introduction of a practice unique to Sweden, that of attaching a feather to the wax seal of a letter to indicate that it needed to be delivered more quickly

Sweden issued its first postage stamps on 1 July 1855, a set of five values denominated in skilling banco. These stamps depicted the coat of arms, were inscribed "SVERIGE", as have been all subsequent Swedish stamps, and were perforated. A printing error resulted in the Treskilling Yellow, a unique stamp that is currently the highest-priced in the world. The currency changed to öre and riksdaler on 1 July 1858, necessitating a new issue of stamps; the design was the same as before, but the stamps slightly smaller.

Royal Mail plc (Welsh: Post Brenhinol; Scottish Gaelic: a' Phuist Rìoghail) is a postal service company in the United Kingdom, originally established in 1516. The company's subsidiary, Royal Mail Group Limited, operates the brands Royal Mail (letters) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). General Logistics Systems, an international logistics company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group.

The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (German: das Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis, is a German noble family that was a key player in the postal services in Europe in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of many castles.This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost (1871–1945), the Deutsche Post under Allied control (1945–1949), the Deutsche Post of the GDR (1949–1990), the Deutsche Bundespost (1949–1995), along with the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin (1949–1990), and are now the Deutsche Post AG (since 1995).

In 1497, on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz von Taxis established a postal service that replaced the ad-hoc courier for official mail

A horse relay system was created that shortened the transit time for mail and made its arrival predictable. Thereafter, the house of Thurn und Taxis using the imperial yellow and black livery maintained the postal privilege for many centuries. The Thurn-und-Taxis-Post employed the first horse-drawn mail coaches in Europe since Roman times in 1650, - they started in the town of Kocs giving rise to the term "coach".

Thurn und Taxis lost its monopoly when Napoleon granted the Rhine Confederation the right to conduct postal services. The agency continued to operate and even issued some stamps (v.i.) but when Prussia created the North German Confederancy Thurn und Taxis had to sell its privileges in 1867.

ReichspostThe Deutsche Reichspost started officially on May 4, 1871

Weimar Republic, 1918-1933

Nazi Germany, 1933-1945

Divided Germany, 1945-1990

After the unification 1990

Following this, a postal route was established between New York City and Boston. This was the first route established between the colonies, and today is known as U.S. Route 1.

A centralized postal system came in 1693, when Thomas Neale received a grant from Britain. He appointed the governor of New Jersey, Alexander Hamilton, his deputy postmaster general. The position was succeeded by Hamilton's son, and in 1737, by Benjamin Franklin, who would improve the postal system in many ways. He improved old routes and laid newer, shorter routes, laid down new milestones on the route, and had mail traveling overnight between Philadelphia and New York. 1760 saw a surplus for the postal service in the colonies, a first for the organization.

World Top Ten Countries With Most Post Offices Country Total NO. Of Post Office (2001)India 154,919China 57,135Russia 41,052USA 38,123Japan 24,760Indonesia 19,881UK 17,633France 17,067Ukraine14,963Italy 13,788