Lot 70038 – 1837 “The Post Office Reform; It’s Importance and Practicability” by Rowland Hill

THE POST OFFICE REFORM PUBLICATION1837 “The Post Office Reform; It’s Importance and Practicability” by Rowland Hill, pp.104, professionally rebound with leather spine and marbled paper covers, superb condition for this extremely rare book, a superb item for the connoisseur of philatelyNote: This publication is regarded as one of the most important milestones in postal development. Hill’s work was based on an exhaustive study of the cost structure of postal operations and demonstrated conclusively that conveyance charges were an insignificant factor in the total cost of handling a letter. The then current intricate charging scales based on distance were shown to be irrelevant and only served to inflate operating costs by requiring a host of clerks to apply them. He also realised that the collection of payments on delivery was impractical. His solution was a uniform rate of postage, regardless of distance, and prepayment of postage by means of adhesive stamps sold by the post office