A Hundred Years by Post: A Jubilee Retrospect

The author traces the evolution of the national postal service across a hundred years, contrasting early methods such as foot messengers, horse expresses, mail-coaches, and sailing packets with later innovations including rail, steamships, and the electric telegraph. He details reforms in rates and organization, the expansion of staff and services, the scheduling and security of routes, and the physical apparatus used to exchange and transmit letters. Period illustrations and analyses accompany discussions of packet services and administrative business, and the narrative considers how faster communications transformed news circulation, public opinion, commerce, and everyday social relations.