1 3 0 • 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 y22. Evans in <strong>The</strong> Mulready Envelope (217–221) is thoroughin his discussion of temperance envelope designs but does notprovide dates for them23. An illustration of this pictorial envelope and furthercommentary about it appears both in Evans, <strong>The</strong> Mulready Envelope,190, and Lowe, <strong>The</strong> British Postage Stamp, 94.24. Debra N. Mancoff, Love’s Messenger: Tokens of Affectionin the Victorian Age (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago,1997), 46.25. Evans provides commentary about and reproduces twoexamples from the series of “Ackermann’s Comic Envelopes” in<strong>The</strong> Mulready Envelope, 176–181.26. Valentine Cards collection, #268, Bath Central Library,Bath, UK.27. <strong>The</strong> two collections I examined are the Valentine Cardscollection, Special Collections, at the Bath Central Library andthe Frank Staff Collection of the Bath <strong>Postal</strong> Museum, Bath, UK.28. Item #253, Valentine Cards collection, Special Collections,Bath Central Library, Bath, UK.29. Kate Greenaway, Language of the Flowers (New York:Avenel Books, n.d.), 36–37.30. Greenaway, pp. 11, 36, 42.31. Greenaway, pp. 10, 18, 15, 27.32. Carroll, <strong>The</strong> Annotated Alice, 72.33. Valentine 1993- 08- 29 forms part of the Frank Staff Collection,Bath <strong>Postal</strong> Museum, Bath, UK.34. This quote comes from “Why is a raven like a writingdesk?” accessed December 11, 2009. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why- is- a- raven- like- a- writing- desk.35. <strong>The</strong> following website offers the Poe response and answersfrom famous people, such as Aldous Huxley: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why- is- a- raven- like- a- writing- desk.<strong>The</strong> website corrects the spelling of “nevar” to “never,” followingthe lead of an editor who thought he caught a typo in Carroll’swriting after the first printing; I have written the term as “nevar”here as Martin Gardner does in <strong>The</strong> Annotated Alice, 72. Clearly,Carroll wanted to spell the word “raven” backwards, and this“correction,” as Gardner notes, “destroyed the ingenuity of hisanswer.” Martin Gardner lists the answer about inky quills in hisannotations to <strong>The</strong> Annotated Alice, 72. At the Fourth Annual<strong>Postal</strong> <strong>History</strong> Symposium in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, Oct. 30–Nov. 1, 2009, one audience member suggested another possibleanswer: both ravens and desks hide valuable things.BibliographyAdams, Cecil. “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” <strong>The</strong> StraightDope, April 18, 1997. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why- is- a- raven- like- a- writing- desk. Accessed December11, 2009.Briggs, Asa. Victorian Things. 1988. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1989.Carroll, Lewis. <strong>The</strong> Annotated Alice: <strong>The</strong> Definitive Edition. Ed.Martin Gardner. Illus. John Tenniel. New York: W. W. Nortonand Co., 2000.Cohen, Morton N. Lewis Carroll: A Biography. New York: AlfredA. Knopf, 1995.Evans, E. B. <strong>The</strong> Mulready Envelope and its Caricatures. London:Stanley Gibbons, 1891.Frank Staff Collection. Valentines. Bath <strong>Postal</strong> Museum, Bath, UK.Fryer, Gavin, and Clive Akerman, eds. Fwd. Asa Briggs. <strong>The</strong>Reform of the Post Office in the Victorian Era and its Impacton Economic and Social Activity: Documentary <strong>History</strong>1837 to 1864 Based on Sir Rowland Hill’s Journal andAncillary Papers. 2 vols. London: Royal Philatelic Society,2000.Golden, Catherine J. Posting It: <strong>The</strong> Victorian Revolution inLetter Writing. Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida,2009.Greenaway, Kate. Language of the Flowers. New York: AvenelBooks, n.d.Hardy, Thomas. Far From the Madding Crowd. 1874. NewYork: Bantam, 1974.Harris, David. Victorian Writing Desks. Buckinghamshire, UK:Shire, 2001.Henkin, David. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Postal</strong> Age: <strong>The</strong> Emergence of ModernCommunications in Nineteenth- Century America. Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 2006.Lewins, William. Her Majesty’s Mails: A <strong>History</strong> of the PostOffice and an Industrial Account of Its Present Condition.1864. 2nd ed. London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston,1865.Lowe, Robson. <strong>The</strong> British Postage Stamp of the NineteenthCentury. London: National <strong>Postal</strong> Museum, 1968.Mancoff, Debra N. Love’s Messenger: Tokens of Affection inthe Victorian Age. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1997.Muir, Douglas. <strong>Postal</strong> Reform and the Penny Black: A New Appreciation.London: National <strong>Postal</strong> Museum, 1990.Post Circular. Or Weekly Advocate for a Cheap, Swift, and SurePostage. Ed. Henry Cole. Nos. 1–16. Wednesday, March,14, 1838–Wednesday, November 20, 1839.Shields, Carol. Jane Austen. New York: Penguin, 2001.Thackeray, William Makepeace. Vanity Fair: A Novel Without aHero. Ed. John Sutherland. Illus. W. M. Thackeray. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1983.Valentine Cards. Special Collections. Bath Central Library, Bath,England.
America’s First Carrier Service:<strong>The</strong> U.S. City Despatch PostLarry Lyons<strong>The</strong> origin of organized carrier service using carrier adhesives is the basisof the 1842 U.S. postal reforms. <strong>The</strong> Greig’s City Despatch Post localstamps were the first adhesive stamps printed in North America. <strong>The</strong>Post Office Department purchased this company for use as the first carrier serviceand adopted this first stamp. <strong>The</strong> postal reforms established in the UnitedStates by the U.S. City Despatch Post, America’s first carrier service, can be summarizedas follows:1. <strong>The</strong> first use of a stamp for government purposes.2. <strong>The</strong> established rate of three cents per stamp or $2.50 per hundred.3. <strong>The</strong> first government handstamp. <strong>The</strong> creation of the “U.S.” in an octagonto cancel stamps and prevent their reuse.4. <strong>The</strong> first government datestamp to show the date and time of delivery.5. <strong>The</strong> first adhesive design for use by the United States City Despatch Post, theScott Specialized Catalogue listed 6LB3 stamp.6. <strong>The</strong> creation of various color adhesives on unsurfaced paper coloredthrough.7. <strong>The</strong> first adhesive stamp printed on glazed surface colored paper for use bythe government.8. <strong>The</strong> first double impression errors.9. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Postal</strong> Act of March 1845, effective July 1, 1845, putting the independentmail companies out of business for intercity mail.10. <strong>The</strong> first use of adhesive stamps by the government for pre- payment of postageon intercity mail.11. <strong>The</strong> first government overprinted stamp due to a change in the fee for carrierservice.This is a unique story about how the government started a carrier servicein New York City with the issuance of carrier adhesives and handstamp devicesand was forced to close down due to competition from the local posts. For once,free enterprise triumphed over the government. This was a first attempt at U.S.postal organization using carrier adhesives.By an order of the postmaster general on August 1, 1842, a carrier servicewas established in New York known as the “United States City DespatchPost.” In order to get started with carrier service, the Post Office Department felt