The first recorded handwritten letter was by Persian Queen Atossa around 500 BC. Throughout history, various materials were used for writing letters and sending messages, including papyrus, parchment, paper, and even tree bark. The modern postal system began with organized courier services in ancient Egypt and China, and the first widespread system was developed in Rome. Key developments included the introduction of the prepaid stamp by Britain in 1840 and standardized postal systems in other countries in the 19th century. Today countries like India, China, and the US have the most post offices worldwide.

1. HISTORY OF THE LETTER

2. The first recorded handwritten letter (epistle) was by
Persian Queen Atossa around 500 BC.
The stamped letter we know today came into being in
the reign of Queen Victoria in 1840.
Before this date letters did not have stamps or
envelopes and the receiver of the letter had to pay on
its receipt.
Letters were folded and sealed by wax with ring or
hand seal.

3. The first documented use
of an organized courier
service for the diffusion
of written documents is
in Ancient Egypt, where
Pharaohs used couriers
for the diffusion of their
decrees in the territory of
the State (2400 B.C.E.).

4. Babylonians wrote astronomical
observations on bricks of clay, the Chinese
tablets of stone on ancient monuments, the
introduction of characters from nature, fire,
water, beasts of the earth and birds of flight,
the beginning of the Syllabic method of
writing i.e. the use of characters to
represent sounds.

5. Egyptian papyrus made possible
the ancient libraries of Alexandria
and Pergamum. The Roman
Emperor Claudius developed a
new stronger type of cross layered
papyrus which was not damaged
by use of the calamus
Born1 august 10 B.C
Lugdunum (Lyon)
Dead13 oktober 54 A.D Rom
Claudius

6. Papyrus became so popular a
writing material that laws where
introduced preventing it leaving
its country of origin in the East.
This caused a shortage of papyrus
in the West which led to the
introduction of new writing
materials Vellum and Parchment
produced from animal skins.
Saxons of the dark ages used the
bark of the beech tree, called boc,
from whence comes the word
book.

7. The style (pen) used in ancient times
was made from wood, metal or bone
shaped to a point. A reed was used on
papyrus and parchment dipped in
Indian/China ink, made from the
secretion of cuttlefish. The 5th century
saw the use of (goose) quills in Saxon
England.
Lead pencils were used in ancient
Greece but only as a temporary marker
to be rubbed out later. It wasn’t until the
14th century that pencils made from a
lead composite became popular and in
common use as a writing implement.

8. About the 10th century from
the Far East to the West came
cotton paper which was in
common use by the 12th
century. A great advance in
writing material came in the
14th century with the
introduction of paper made
from linen rags. This method
of making paper continued for
several hundred years.

9. During the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.E.–207
B.C.E.) and was substantially expanded
during the subsequent Han Dynasty. The
origins of a Chinese mail system may go back
to the Shang Dynasty, from (1600 B.C.E.–1100
B.C.E.). Whatever its origin, the Chinese
Postal Service has clear title to the world's
oldest continuously operating mail system.
Today's Chinese mail system is continuous
with one that was probably formalized under
the Qin Dynasty.

10. The Roman Emperor
Trajan commanded that
positus (carriers) be
stationed at regular
distances with chariots
waiting to transport
important documents, this
is where the word post is
derived.
Born: 18 september 53 A.D,
Dead: 9 august 117 A.D

11. The first well documented postal service
in Europe is that of Rome. Organized at
the time of Augustus Caesar (62 B.C.E.–
AD 14), it may also be the first true mail
service. The service was called cursus
publicus and was provided with light
carriages called rhedæ with fast horses.
Additionally, there was another slower
service equipped with two-wheeled carts
(birolæ) pulled by oxen. This service was
reserved for government correspondence.
Another service for citizens was later
added.

12. Prior to 1840 letters were delivered
by courier, coach or horse rider.
The receiver of the letter had to
pay on its receipt and the cost was
dependant on the number of
pages and distance travelled. To
prevent the contents of the letter
from being read by others they
were sealed using a coloured wax
with ring or handheld seal.

13. In May 1840 Great Britain
introduced the first prepaid stamp
nationwide postal delivery service,
with the Penny Black stamp
(portrait of the young Queen
Victoria) for letters under half an
ounce and the Twopenny Blue
stamp for letters over. This was
soon followed by other countries
introducing similar systems.

14. The United States
introduced a limited postal
service in August 1842
followed by a uniform 5
cents charge in 1845 and
standardised stamps in
1847.
Letter from Nixon

15. Posten, the Swedish mail
service, was established in 1636
by Axel Oxenstierna, and by the
18th century it had been
extended throughout the
country. The same century also
saw the introduction of a
practice unique to Sweden, that
of attaching a feather to the wax
seal of a letter to indicate that it
needed to be delivered more
quickly

16. Sweden issued its first postage stamps
on 1 July 1855, a set of five values
denominated in skilling banco. These
stamps depicted the coat of arms, were
inscribed "SVERIGE", as have been all
subsequent Swedish stamps, and were
perforated. A printing error resulted in
the Treskilling Yellow, a unique stamp
that is currently the highest-priced in the
world. The currency changed to öre and
riksdaler on 1 July 1858, necessitating a
new issue of stamps; the design was the
same as before, but the stamps slightly
smaller.

17. Royal Mail plc (Welsh: Post
Brenhinol; Scottish Gaelic: a'
Phuist Rìoghail) is a postal service
company in the United Kingdom,
originally established in 1516. The
company's subsidiary, Royal Mail
Group Limited, operates the
brands Royal Mail (letters) and
Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels).
General Logistics Systems, an
international logistics company, is
a wholly owned subsidiary of
Royal Mail Group.

18. The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis
(German: das Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis, is
a German noble family that was a key player in
the postal services in Europe in the 16th
century and is well known as owners of
breweries and builders of many castles.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and
postal history of Germany and philatelically
related areas. The main modern providers of
service were the Reichspost (1871–1945), the
Deutsche Post under Allied control (1945–1949),
the Deutsche Post of the GDR (1949–1990), the
Deutsche Bundespost (1949–1995), along with
the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin (1949–1990),
and are now the Deutsche Post AG (since 1995).

19. In 1497, on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I of the
Holy Roman Empire, Franz von Taxis established a
postal service that replaced the ad-hoc courier for
official mail
A horse relay system was created that shortened the
transit time for mail and made its arrival predictable.
Thereafter, the house of Thurn und Taxis using the
imperial yellow and black livery maintained the
postal privilege for many centuries. The Thurn-und-
Taxis-Post employed the first horse-drawn mail
coaches in Europe since Roman times in 1650, - they
started in the town of Kocs giving rise to the term
"coach".

20. Thurn und Taxis lost its
monopoly when
Napoleon granted the
Rhine Confederation the
right to conduct postal
services. The agency
continued to operate and
even issued some
stamps (v.i.) but when
Prussia created the North
German Confederancy
Thurn und Taxis had to
sell its privileges in 1867.

21. Reichspost
The Deutsche Reichspost started officially on May 4, 1871
Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 After the unification 1990
Nazi Germany, 1933-1945
Divided Germany, 1945-1990

22. Following this, a postal route was established between
New York City and Boston. This was the first route
established between the colonies, and today is known
as U.S. Route 1.
A centralized postal system came in 1693, when
Thomas Neale received a grant from Britain. He
appointed the governor of New Jersey, Alexander
Hamilton, his deputy postmaster general. The position
was succeeded by Hamilton's son, and in 1737, by
Benjamin Franklin, who would improve the postal
system in many ways. He improved old routes and laid
newer, shorter routes, laid down new milestones on the
route, and had mail traveling overnight between
Philadelphia and New York. 1760 saw a surplus for the
postal service in the colonies, a first for the
organization.

23. World Top Ten Countries With Most Post
Offices CountryTotal NO. Of Post
Office (2001)
India 154,919
China 57,135
Russia 41,052
USA 38,123
Japan 24,760
Indonesia 19,881
UK 17,633
France 17,067
Ukraine14,963
Italy 13,788