Beschreibung:

Mulready Cover. A Mulready one penny envelope with added manuscript caricatures and verse, [third Sunday] 24 May 1840, used from Maidstone to Knightsbridge, with fine clear double-arc despatch date stamp in black and cancelled with fine strike of the red Maltese Cross, two partial red transit date only stamps for 25 May to right blank panel of reverse, neatly addressed to David Power, Esq., Sloane St., Knightsbridge, Middlesex, numeral ‘160’ written adjacent, with additional pen and ink caricatures of three men with speech bubbles to front panel and manuscript verse to upper blank panel of the reverse, remains of red wax seal, fully opened in a diamond shape and laid down on a cut-down contemporary album leaf, envelope measuring 177 x 277 mm from tip to tip (Quantity: 1) Mulready letter sheets and envelopes were introduced as part of the British Post Office postal reforms of 1840. They went on sale on 1 May 1840, and were valid for use from 6 May. Sunday postmarks are the scarcest and this is a very rare, and possibly unique, manuscript comic Mulready envelope with verse, sent on the third Sunday of 24 May. Mulreadys, which came in one and two penny value versions, were instantly derided by the general public who universally took to the gummed stamp Penny Black alternatives. Printed caricature versions of the Mulreadys quickly appeared on the market and these too have become collectable items from the Mulreadys’ brief one-year history. This is a highly unusual manuscript version, and while it may have been drawn by the recipient after receipt, rather than by the sender, it was clearly done at the time. The inverted manuscript verse on the upper flap appears may suggest this was written before posting but the speech bubble outline of the seated man and his neat positioning appear to indicate this was done after receipt. The Mehmet Ali reference is directly contemporary. The neat pen and ink illustrations show two men standing on the left and a third man seated below the despatch stamp on the right with the following text: [Caption below Britannia:] HIC JACET GLORIA BRITANNIAE [Here lies the glory of Britain] [Standing man on far left:] Lord ha' mercy has the Queen got all them children already [Man standing to his right and pointing:] You lubber! Them flying cats be'nt children. Don't you see as how it's a hallegory, & that's Britannia, a'sending out declarations of war to all the world, and there's the Chinamen & old Mahomet Ali a'reading of theirs & a'writing an answer [Man seated on right:] But who is to pay for all these wars? [Manuscript verse written on upper flap:] Explanation of the Hieroglyphic Britannia's fame is taking its flight And her lion is dying for any spite While her once proud navy is dwindled away To the size of yonder Laplander's sleigh And she sits alone in sorrow & care And cries, "where are my friends"? Echo answers--"Where?"--