The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

1 2 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yFigure 4. Victorian gentleman’s mahogany writing desk and woman’s papier-mâché writing desk. From the collectionof Catherine J. Golden.over Edwin Hill’s and Warren De La Rue’s envelopefoldingmachine, invented in 1845 by Edwin Hill, RowlandHill’s brother; fans of this “cutting- edge” Victoriantechnological wonder include Queen Victoria. With therise of envelope production came an increase in pictorialenvelopes. Briggs suggests in Victorian Things that “thefailure of the Mulready envelopes may have given an impetusto the popularity of other envelopes bearing viewsof places and sketches of people and things.” 21 The “failure”of the Mulready gave rise to Mulready caricatures,which, as satires of Victorian politics and culture, in turn,sparked the popularity of a whole range of pictorial envelopesthat record pressing social and political reformsas well as activities from daily Victorian life. Today aVictorian time traveler might be surprised to find peoplestanding on street corners, holding protest signs and conductingrallies; this same Victorian, over 150 years ago,might have expressed his or her views by purchasing andposting pictorial envelopes. Popular pictorial envelopes, aready means of advertising or what we would now referto as “propaganda,” advocated, for example, affordabletransatlantic postage, peace, abolition, brotherhood, vegetarianism,and temperance.One mid- century temperance envelope shows scenesof inebriation in the home, pub, and street and includes thecaption in capital letters: “INTOXICATING DRINKS—ARE THE BANE & CURSE OF SOCIETY.” Still otherspreach the positive side of abstinence by flanking the Goddessof Temperance with flag- bearing delegates from Europe,Asia, Africa, and America, all paying her homage. 22Pictorial envelopes also promoted Overseas Penny Postage,a movement aligned with peace and brotherhood andspearheaded by Elihu Burritt, United States consular agentin Birmingham. One such 1849 envelope designed, engraved,and produced by J. Valentine of Dundee includesMercury in a winged cap positioned above an overseasvessel and contains the words “Ocean Postage.” Claspedhands of individuals of different races join with a doveholding an olive branch and transportation symbols: arailway train, a canal boat, and mail packets. Scrolls unfurlingalong the top and bottom of the design displayboldly in capital letters, “BRITAIN! FROM THEE THEWORLD EXPECTS AN OCEAN PENNY POSTAGE—TO MAKE HER CHILDREN ONE FRATERNITY.” 23(Figure 5)While such didactic pictorial envelopes sermonize,others simply entertain. Scenic or tourist envelopes showcasepicturesque Victorian locales—the rural landscape,Oxford, Windsor Castle, and Stirling Castle, for instance.Beginning in 1840, Richard and James Doyle created