Editing Postage stamp (section)

=== The nineteenth century ===
[[File:Penny black.jpg|thumb|The [[Penny Black]], the world's first postage stamp (1 May 1840)]]

Postage stamps have facilitated the delivery of mail since the 1840s. Before then, ink and hand-stamps (hence the word 'stamp'), usually made from wood or cork, were often used to frank the mail and confirm the payment of postage. The first adhesive postage stamp, commonly referred to as the [[Penny Black]], was issued in the United Kingdom in 1840. The invention of the stamp was part of an attempt to  improve the postal system in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]],<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/1800-victorian.html| title = British Postal Museum, The Penny Post and After| access-date = 12 September 2019| archive-date = 18 October 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201018114006/http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/1800-victorian.html| url-status = live}}</ref> which, in the early 19th century, was in disarray and rife with corruption.<ref>National Postal Museum: World’s First Postage Stamps</ref> There are varying accounts of the inventor or inventors of the stamp.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.norbyhus.dk/btpb.html| title = Before the Penny Black, by Ken Lawrence, 1995| access-date = 3 August 2010| archive-date = 25 July 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725035631/http://norbyhus.dk/btpb.html| url-status = live}}</ref>

Before the introduction of postage stamps, mail in the United Kingdom was paid for by the recipient, a system that was associated with an irresolvable problem: the costs of delivering mail were not recoverable by  the postal service when recipients were unable or unwilling to pay for delivered items, and senders had no incentive to restrict the number, size, or weight of items sent, whether or not they would ultimately be paid for.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.costofstamps.net/history_of_postage_stamps.php| title = Cost of Stamps| access-date = 3 August 2010| archive-date = 22 April 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110422220040/http://www.costofstamps.net/history_of_postage_stamps.php| url-status = live}}</ref> The postage stamp resolved this issue in a simple and elegant manner, with the additional benefit of room for an element of beauty to be introduced. Concurrently with the first stamps, the United Kingdom offered [[Wrapper (philately)|wrappers]] for mail. Later related inventions include [[postal stationery]] such as prepaid-postage envelopes, [[Postcard|post cards]], [[lettercard]]s, [[aerogramme]]s, and [[postage meter]]s.

The postage stamp afforded convenience for both the mailer and postal officials, more effectively recovered costs for the postal service, and ultimately resulted in a better, faster postal system. With the conveniences stamps offered, their use resulted in greatly increased mailings during the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name="The British Postal Museum" /> Postage stamps released during this era were the most popular way of paying for mail; however by the end of the 20th century were rapidly being eclipsed by the use of metered postage and bulk mailing by businesses.<ref>[http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Pitney-Bowes-Inc-Company-History.html Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412035227/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Pitney-Bowes-Inc-Company-History.html |date=12 April 2010 }} '''Excerpt:''' (Entering the final decade of the century, PB saw its sales surpass the US$3 billion mark for the first time in company history, topping off at US$3.2 billion in fiscal 1990.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.usps.com/postagesolutions/post_mtr.htm| title = United States Postal Service| access-date = 30 July 2010| archive-date = 26 July 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100726143316/http://www.usps.com/postagesolutions/post_mtr.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>

As postage stamps with their engraved imagery began to appear on a widespread basis, historians and collectors began to take notice.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.startstampcollecting.net/| title = The Life and Times of a Stamp Collector| access-date = 17 August 2010| archive-date = 31 January 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080131023039/http://www.startstampcollecting.net/| url-status = live}}</ref> The study of postage stamps and their use is referred to as [[philately]]. [[Stamp collecting]] can be both a [[hobby]] and a form of historical study and reference, as government-issued postage stamps and their mailing systems have always been involved with the history of nations.<ref name=":0">{{cite web| url = http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1h_1792act.html| title = Smithsonian National Postal Museum| access-date = 2 August 2010| archive-date = 27 July 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100727140441/http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2a1h_1792act.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name=":1">[[Postal Service Act]]</ref>

Although a number of people laid claim to the concept of the postage stamp, it is well documented that stamps were first introduced in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] on 1 May 1840 as a part of postal reforms promoted by Sir [[Rowland Hill]].<ref name="postal revolutionary"/> With its introduction the postage fee was paid by the sender and not the recipient, though it was still possible to send mail without prepaying. From when the first postage stamps were used, [[postmark]]s were applied to prevent the stamps being used again.<ref>[[commons:File:Washington Franklin 1847 covers.jpg|Photo of two covers bearing the First US Postage stamps showing cancellations]]</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=159543&img=1&pg=1| title = Smithsonian National Postal Museum| access-date = 17 August 2010| archive-date = 24 November 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111124212843/http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=159543&img=1&pg=1| url-status = live}}</ref>

The first stamp, the "[[Penny black]]", became available for purchase 1 May 1840, to be valid as of 6 May 1840. Two days later, 8 May 1840, the [[Two penny blue]] was introduced. The Penny black was sufficient for a letter less than half an ounce to be sent anywhere within the United Kingdom. Both stamps included an engraving of the young [[Queen Victoria]], without perforations, as the first stamps were separated from their sheets by cutting them with scissors.

The first stamps did not need to show the issuing country, so no country name was included on them. The United Kingdom remains the only country to omit its name on postage stamps,<ref name="Garfield">{{cite book|last=Garfield|first=Simon|title=The Error World: An Affair with Stamps|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|location=Boston|pages=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBI4brLkz7AC&pg=PA118|isbn=978-0-15-101396-8|date= 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=O'Donnell|first=Kevin|author2=Winger, Larry|title=Internet for Scientists|publisher=CRC Press|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xXf068I5-tUC&pg=PA19 |isbn=90-5702-222-2|year=1997}}</ref> using the reigning monarch's head as country identification. Following the introduction of the postage stamp in the United Kingdom, prepaid postage considerably increased the number of letters mailed. Before 1839, the number of letters sent in the United Kingdom was typically 76 million. By 1850, this increased five-fold to 350 million, continuing to grow rapidly<ref name="The British Postal Museum">{{cite web|url=http://postalheritage.org.uk/news_archive/royal-society-350th-anniversary-stamps|title=The British Postal Museum|access-date=30 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513064358/http://postalheritage.org.uk/news_archive/royal-society-350th-anniversary-stamps|archive-date=13 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> until the end of the 20th century when newer methods of indicating the payment of postage reduced the use of stamps.

Other countries soon followed the United Kingdom with their own stamps.<ref name="postal revolutionary"/> The [[canton of Zürich]] in Switzerland issued the [[Zürich 4 and 6]] rappen on 1 March 1843. Although the Penny black could be used to send a letter less than half an ounce anywhere within the United Kingdom, the Swiss did not initially adopt that system, instead continuing to calculate mail rates based on distance to be delivered. [[Brazil]] issued the [[Bull's Eye (postage stamp)|Bull's Eye]] stamp on 1 August 1843. Using the same printer used for the Penny black, Brazil opted for an abstract design instead of the portrait of Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]], so his image would not be disfigured by a postmark.

In 1845, some [[postmaster]]s in the [[United States]] issued [[United States postmasters provisional stamps|their own stamps]], but it was not until 1847 that the first official United States stamps were issued: 5 and 10 cent issues depicting [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[George Washington]].<ref name="US Classics">''A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics'' (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) {{ASIN|B091MBTGJ7}} [[:File:A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics.pdf|(read online)]]</ref> A few other countries issued stamps in the late 1840s. The famous [[Mauritius "Post Office" stamps]] were issued by [[Mauritius]] in September 1847. Many others, such as [[Postage stamps and postal history of India|India]], started their use in the 1850s, and by the 1860s most countries issued stamps.

[[Postage stamp separation|Perforation]] of postage stamps began in January 1854.<ref name=AMEncyclopedia1415>Why has a Postage Stamp a Perforated Edge? – ''A.M. Encyclopedia'' – Volume Two – page 1415</ref> The first officially perforated stamps were issued in February 1854. Stamps from Henry Archer's perforation trials were issued in the last few months of 1850; during the 1851 parliamentary session<ref name="AMEncyclopedia1415"/> at the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]; and finally in 1853/54 after the United Kingdom government paid Archer £4,000 for his machine and the patent.<ref name="AMEncyclopedia1415"/>

The [[Universal Postal Union]], established in 1874, prescribed that nations shall only issue postage stamps according to the quantity of real use, and no living persons shall be taken as subjects. The latter rule lost its significance after [[World War I]].<ref name="HBL">{{cite news|author=Appelberg, Carl|title=Snart är frimärkets saga all|newspaper=Hufvudstadsbladet|date=4 January 2020|page=33|language=sv
|location=Helsingfors|trans-title=The story of postage stamp coming to an end}}</ref>