`Here we have more newspapers, being discharged from a conveyor belt on to a table to be stamped, and, at one time, but no more, there was a special, reduced, rate called "Newspaper Post". The practice was prevalent in the nineteenth century, but slowly the publishers got wise to the fact that they might be able to negotiate a special rate if they sent lots of papers together, so the newspaper stamps slowly disappeared.
We know that the first stamp specifically for newspapers was issued in Austria in the year of the Great Exhibition, 1851. It did not have a rate, it just said "Zeitungs Stampel", but it was worth 6 kreuzer in value. Originally it was blue but it was changed, briefly, in 1856, to red, then changed back.
America followed suit, in the mid 1860s, but unlike most other places, perhaps because of distance, they only ever posted lots of papers in bulk, not as single items to a householder.
Another related item is the newspaper wrapper. These had a pre-printed stamp and were fixed round each newspaper, but they were rather time consuming to fold round and gum. But from the way the papers are folded on our card it seems likely that they were about to have wrappers on them.
This version of this set first appears in our original Wills reference book part three, the full text of which reads :
- 95. 50. ROYAL MAIL. Fronts lithographed in colour; backs in black (see Fig.54), with descriptive text (except E and G below). Australian issues, 1913 :-
With "Wills`s Cigarettes" on fronts -
A. Backs with "Capstan" advertisement.
B. Backs with "Havelock" advertisement
C. Backs with "Vice Regal" advertisement
D. With anonymous backs
E. With plain backs
Without "Wills`s Cigarettes" on fronts (anonymous issues) -
F. With anonymous backs
G. With plain backs
This set is entirely different from the similarly titled series by Ogden and Clarke
We will return to that closing statement later, but it does explain why there is no mention of the Ogden and Clarke sets in our original World Tobacco Issues Index under the entry for the Wills version, where this set appears as :
- ROYAL MAIL. Sm. (50). See W/95 ...W62-235
A. "Capstan" back. Numbered.
B. "Havelock" back. Numbered.
C. "Vice Regal" back. Numbered.
D. Anonymous backs, "Wills`s Cigarettes" on front. Numbered.
E. Plain backs. "Wills`s Cigarettes" on front. Unnumbered.
The first thing you will notice is that sets F and G, the sets "Without "Wills`s Cigarettes" on fronts" are not there. However, if you go to the back of the book, you will find "F", as :
- ZA3-5. ROYAL MAIL. Sm. Nd. (50) see W/95.F
However, I have not yet tracked down set G, not even in the section for plain backed cards. It is possible that it was an error of reporting, or an error of printing, cut down from a proof sheet, a one off, as it were, not worth recording.
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, the listing is identical to above, and reads :
- ROYAL MAIL. Sm. (50). See W/95 ...W675-368
A. "Capstan" back. Nd.
B. "Havelock" back. Nd. (a) with (b) without "Wills`s Cigarettes" on front.
C. "Vice Regal" back. Nd.
D. Anonymous backs, "Wills`s Cigarettes" on front. Nd.
E. Plain backs. "Wills`s Cigarettes" on front. Unnd.
So let us now return to the fact that the Ogden`s and Clarke`s version of this set was different to the Wills` one, because it is very true. However, they are in a similar style, and there is a theory that it was intended to be a second series for Ogden and Clark, but that was not taken up. The only problem with that is that the Wills version is really heavily Australian based, and I can see no reason for that to be the case if the set was intended for issue in the United Kingdom.
So here is a checklist which lists the Australian version first, and the British version, bracketed in italics, second.
- Sorting Letters, GPO London - [The Post Office Stone, South Africa]
- Loading Mails on Ocean Liner -[Ralph Allen, 1693-1764]
- Old English Mail Coach - [John Palmer, 1741-1818]
- Mail Coach, Western Australia - [Sir Rowland Hill, K.C.B.]
- Carrying Mail to Kiandra WA - [The Old General Post Office in Lombard Street]
- Post Office at Gold Diggings, Australia - [The G.P.O. in Mail Coach Days]
- General Post Office, London - [Mail Coach Attacked by a Lioness]
- South African Letter Carrier - [A Mail Coach in a Flood]
- Sir Roland (sic) Hill - [A Mail Coach in a Snow-Drift]
- Fast Modern Turbine Mail Steamer - [Hurrying on the Mails After a Breakdown]
- Transhipping Mail Under Steam - [Taking up Mail Bags Without Stopping]
- Collecting Letters from Pillar Box - [The Mail Coach Guard]
- Sleigh Post in North-West Canada - [An Early Travelling Post Office]
- Sydney (NSW) Postman, City Uniform - [Royal Parcel Post Coach]
- Loading Vans (GPO London) for Railway Transport - [The St. Kilda Mail Bag]
- The Last Mail Coach Guard (James Nobbs) - [Postman With Catamaran]
- Wolverhampton's Solitary Postman (1834) - [The Mashonaland Zebra Mail Team]
- Auckland (NZ) Post Office 50 Years Ago - [Native Postman, Natal]
- Analysis of Mail London to Edinburgh showing Free and Payable Packages - [Native Postman, Calcutta]
- British Guiana Postman - [Native Postman, Trinidad]
- Old London Two Penny Postman - [Postman, Sydney, N.S. Wales]
- A Letter Woman, 1769 - [An African Postal Runner]
- Manchester Postman - [English Postman]
- English Rural District Postman - [Mail Day in the Bush]
- First London Pillar Box - [The Mails Icebound in Canada]
- River Postman - [A Primitive Post Office, Matabeleland]
- Receiving and Delivery Mails Train in Motion - [Rural Post Office India]
- Parcel Hospital - [Mail Train Exchange Apparatus]
- Custom Section Examining Parcels - [Royal Mail Motor Van]
- Sorting in Train - [Disembarking Mails at Sea]
- English Military Post Office - [Shipping American Mails at Southampton]
- London Postman Delivering Letters - [Loading Mail at Riverside Station]
- Inauguration of Pneumatic Tube - [Interior of a Railway Post Office]
- Newcastle Postman, 1824 - [Loading Parcel Van at Mount Pleasant]
- Sorting School at GPO London - [Unloading and Opening Parcel Mails]
- Field Post Office - [Despatching Letter Mails at the G.P.O.]
- Loading Mail Train at Paddington, London - [City Postman Arranging Letters for Delivery]
- Conveyor Discharging Newspapers on Stamping Table - [Despatching Parcels from Chief Office, London]
- Public Post Office in England - [Cancelling and Date Marking Machine]
- Parcel Coach for Short Journeys in Gt Britain - [Unloading Parcel Vans At Mount Pleasant]
- Conveying from Tender to Train - [Christmas Traffic Supplementary Van]
- Postman on Skis, Scotland - [London Postmen Starting on Delivery]
- GHR Mail Train Snowed Up - [Sorting Parcels at Chief London Depot]
- An Out Station Post Office, Cape Colony - [Sub-Sorting Mail Parcels]
- Parcel Motor (Replacing Horse Coaches) - ["Blind" Letter Division G.P.O.]
- Aerial Post (Hendon to Windsor, England) - [Opening a Colonial Mail]
- Type of London Mail Van - [Newspaper Sorting At The G.P.O.]
- General Post Office, Calcutta - [Unloading a Mail at the G.P.O.]
- Motor Collecting from Pillar Box - [Christmas Pressure at the G.P.O.]
- Parcel Post, Achil Island - [The General Post Office]