2-361-745 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mulready's wrapper envelope, 1840 (1956). Decorated with designs by the artist William Mulready, these pre-paid envelopes, together with lettersheets, were introduced as part of the postal reforms instigated by the Post Office in 1840. They were brought out at the same time as the first postage stamps, but were unsuccessful and were withdrawn only two months after they were first introduced. A print from Things, a volume about the origin and early history of many things, common and less common, essential and inessential, by Readers Union, the Grosvenor Press, London, 1956.