Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing

By Catherine J. Golden

Book Overview

Although "snail mail" may seem old fashioned and outdated in the twenty-first century, Catherine Golden argues that the creation of the Penny Post in Victorian England was just as revolutionary in its time as e-mail and text messages are today. Until Queen Victoria instituted the Postal Reform Act of 1839, mail was a luxury affordable only by the rich. Allowing anyone, from any social class, to send a letter anywhere in the country for only a penny had multiple and profound cultural impacts. Golden demonstrates how cheap postage--which was quickly adopted in other countries--led to a postal "network" that can be viewed as a forerunner of computer-mediated communications. Indeed, the revolution in letter writing of the nineteenth century led to blackmail, frauds, unsolicited mass mailings, and junk mail--problems that remain with us today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813035414
• ISBN13: 9780813035413
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"