University of Virginia Library

THE “BLIND LETTER” DEPARTMENT, LONDON P. O.

[ILLUSTRATION]

To Fred Sidney Esq, Theatre Royal Stockton-on-Tees.
By whom we are Surrounded.

[Description: 503EAF. Page 279. In-line image; opening images for the story "The 'Blind Letter' Department, London P.O." There are three images, with one across the top of the page and the other two, which are designed as postcards, flanking both vertical sides of the page. The top image shows a group of dogs staring at a theater sign. The left image depicts Miss Brooke of Kings Worthy, Winchester. She is standing outside of her house dressed for winter weather and leaning on the head of her umbrella. The right image shows the one clerk who works in the blind letter department.]

ABOUT the
most curious
feature of the
London post-office
is the “Blind-Letter”
Department. Only
one clerk is employed
in it and
sometimes his place
is a sinecure for a
day at a time, and
then against it is just
the reverse. His
specialty is a wonderful
knack in the
way of deciphering atrocious penmanship. That man can read anything
that is done with a pen. All superscriptions are carried to him which the
mighty army of his fellow clerks cannot make out, and he spells them off
like print and sends them on their way. He keeps in a book, fac-similes of

[ILLUSTRATION]

Dundreary Dreams Of Home
[To The Majesty The Queen,
And The Princess of Wales.]

[Description: 503EAF. Page 280. Two images. The first depicts the clerk Dundreary dreaming. His dream shows his wife and children and also an address in New York. The second image is an illustration of indecipherable handwriting from a postcard addressed to the Queen and the Princess of Wales.]

the most astonishing specimens he comes across. He also keeps fac-similes of
many of the envelopes that pass through the office with queer pictures drawn
upon them. He was kind enough to have some of the picture-envelopes and
execrable superscriptions copied for me, (the latter with “translations” added,)
and I here offer them for the inspection of the curious reader.