Question from a Reader: I have seen a few images of letters from what is supposed to from the Regency Era, but none have envelopes. Why is that?

Answer: First, let me say you should check out this site. As 2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s birthday, this piece from the Postal Museum on How Did Jane Austen Write Her Letters is perfect for both the anniversary celebration and this post.

I learned a great deal of this information from Author, Shannon Donnelly. I have this piece from Shannon’s blog earmarked: The Regency Post: A Pity We’ve Lost Letters.

Prior to the introduction of uniform penny postage in 1840 hardly any letters were sent in envelopes as they counted as an additional sheet and were charged as such. By 1855 however, it was estimated that 93% of domestic letters were sent in envelopes, allowing the development of curious addresses along with it.

I have seen a few pre-1840 “envelopes,” but they are very difficult to find. As best as I can tell in looking at the images, these are simply a sheet of paper folded in a manner to contain another sheet and then sealed with wax. A person can tell these are the envelopes because they will have a direction on one side and no letter written on the reverse side of the sheet. In the Georgian era, which includes the Regency, whoever wrote the letter was charged for the number of sheets he/she sent, so most folks only sent one sheet and would simply write, turn it and write across it again, turn it again and cross again diagonally. A good example of this is here: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/4002-cross-writing-text-scarce-paper-used-in I cannot imagine how difficult this would have been to read. Once, another reader asked me why the writer did not simply write smaller. I told her I believe it would be difficult to write smaller, especially with the pens used and the dipping in ink, etc.

When searching out samples of correspondence in the Regency and Georgian era (or even before), a person would likely only find examples from the aristocracy and the gentry, for they could afford the cost of the letter. There are some examples from merchants and what was called a “man of business” (meaning an something similar to an accountant in modern speak).

Before there was the penny stamp required on letters after 1840, it was possible for a person to send a letter and the one receiving it had to pay for it, though it might be sent back if unpaid. Prisoners sometimes took advantage of this or those in the work houses.

An MP could frank a letter, but the idea of franking a letter was not in the same manner as we find in many Regency novels. Heck, I am guilty of having my hero able to frank his own letters in a few of my nearly 80 books.

In reality, those in Parliament were supposed to restrict their correspondence to business for the Crown. Obviously, why should the British government pay for letters not dealing with governmental business? Yet, it was seen as a privilege of those Members of Parliament, meaning those in the House of Commons, to pre-frank sheets and give them to friends and family to use.

And, yes, an MP could frank a letter so it went free, but this was supposed to be restricted to crown business (as in why should the crown pay itself for letters sent on it’s own business). But it was also common to leave pre-franked sheets with a friend for their use so the system was widely abused.