Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing - Paperback
Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing - Paperback
$55.53
/
Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.
by Catherine J. Golden (Author)
Although "snail mail" may seem old fashioned and outdated in the twenty-first century, Catherine Golden argues that the creation of the Penny Post in Victorian England was just as revolutionary in its time as e-mail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.
Author Biography
Catherine J. Golden is professor of English at Skidmore College.
