The English Stamp-Office affords every facility in the matter of stamped paper and envelopes, and private individuals may indulge their tastes to almost any extent. The officers of Inland Revenue, Somerset House, will place an embossed stamp on any paper or envelope taken to them, equal to the value of any of those above mentioned, or to a combination of any of them, under the following regulations:--
1st. When the stamps required do not amount to 10_l._ worth one shilling is charged, in addition to the postage stamps, for each distinct size of paper.
2d. When the stamps amount to 10_l._ worth no fee is charged if one size of paper only be sent.
3d. When the stamps amount to 20_l._ worth, no fee is charged, and two sizes of paper are allowed; 30_l._ three sizes are allowed; 40_l._ four sizes.
4th. No _folded_ paper can be stamped; and therefore paper, whether intended for envelopes or letters, must be sent unfolded and without being creased.
5th. Every distinct size and form of envelope or paper must be marked so as to indicate the plan on which the stamp is to be impressed, in order that, when the envelope or letter is folded and made up, the stamp may appear in the proper position according to the rules of the Post-Office.
6th. No coloured paper can be received for stamping, nor any paper which is too thin to bear the impression of the dies.
7th. Envelopes provided by the office, with the proper stamps thereon, will be substituted for any which may be spoiled in the operation of stamping.
A recent concession made by the Board of Inland Revenue may be regarded as one of the latest novelties in the advertising world. Under the arrangement in question, the Stamp-Office permits embossed rings with the name of a particular firm, _e. g._ "Allsop & Co., Burton-on-Trent," "De la Rue & Co.," to be placed round the stamp as a border to it.
In 1844, after the _exposé_ of the letter-opening practices at the General Post-Office, Mr. Leech gave in _Punch_ his "Anti-Graham Envelopes," and his satirical postage envelope, afterwards engraved by Mr. W. J. Linton, and widely circulated, represents Sir James Graham sitting as "Britannia." About the same time there might have been seen in the windows of booksellers of the less respectable class, a kind of padlock envelope, exhibiting the motto, "Not to be Grahamed."