Envelope with canceled ?Penny Black? stamp (United Kingdom, 1840)
Sent from London to Edinburgh, 1840
Robert T. Galkin Collection

This letter was sent with the world?s first postage stamp, the ?Penny Black?. Before social reformer Rowland Hill invented the stamp, the British postal service used a complex pricing system. A single letter could cost a full day?s wages, which the recipient was required to pay. Parliament approved the Uniform Penny Post in 1840 and the annual number of sent letters doubled by 1841. The design soon changed to red when postal workers realized the dark ink obscured cancellations.