Letter Gallery

Peace, Perfect Peace by Heath Robinson

Peace, Perfect Peace by Heath Robinson. Being the Morning after the Night Before. The aftermath of energetic peace celebrations to mark the end of the First World War, Heath Robinson imagines a street strewn with fallen flags and banners, somebody comatose in a letter box and a couple fast asleep on an upturned car, with umbrellas up to shelter from the drizzle, warm under a Union Jack flag. Ever a police officer has stopped for a doze on a convenient windowsill. Date: 1919

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Airmail postcards at Gamages, London

People at Gamages in Holborn, Central London, addressing postcards and posting them in the special London Aerial Postbox, in time for the first aerial mail service from Hendon to Windsor and back again. The service flew on 9 September 1911. King George V gave permission for the aeroplanes to land in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Gustav Hamel was the first pilot to deliver by airmail. During September 1911 the Grahame-White company operated an experimental air mail service for two weeks between Hendon and Windsor. As well as commemorating the coronation of King George V, and raising money for charity, the event publicised the possibilities of the aeroplane as a means of transport

© Mary Evans Picture Library

Wartime postcard for soldiers to send home

Wartime postcard for soldiers to send home, with options to delete or retain. For example: I am quite well, I have been admitted into hospital, I am being sent down to the base, I have received your letter, letter follows, I have received no letter. No additional messages are allowed, otherwise the card will be destroyed.
circa 1916

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection