Friday 24 July 2009

From Pillar to Post

A pillar box is described as a freestanding post(Mail) box in the UK and Ireland and Anthony Trollope the 19th century novelist is credited with their introduction. Before he found fame as a writer he worked for the Post Office, starting in 1834 in England. Seven years later, with his career in the doldrums, he applied for a position as a Surveyor's clerk with the Irish Post Office. He found more success here and by 1844 he had risen to become the Assistant Surveyor for the Southern District.
His first novel "The Macdermots of Ballycloran", was published in 1847, featuring events and characters inspired by his time in Ireland. Literary success came in 1855 with the publication of "The Warden", the first of a six-novel sequence collectively known as "The Chronicles of Barsetshire".
Trollope continued to flourish in his postal career and he was sent by the Post Office to the Channel Islands to ascertain what could be done about the problem of collecting the mail on the Islands because of irregular sailing times by the Royal Mail packet boats due to bad weather and tides. His recommendation was to employ a device he may have seen in use in Paris - a "letter-receiving pillar". The rest as they say is history!
He left the Post Office in 1867 and when he failed to win a seat in Parliament the following year he devoted himself to literature, producing the book which many consider to be his masterpiece, "The Way We Live Now", in 1875, just seven years before his death in 1882. The book was a scathing satire on the dishonesty and rampant greed Trollope saw all around him.
An Post, the Irish Post Office issued the stamp featured in my collage in June of this year to honour Anthony Trollope. The stamp is based on an albumen print created by Julia Cameron in 1864 and costs 82 cents.(for more on Irish stamps www.irishstamps.ie)
The pillar boxes in my collage are from left to right: A red box from Sion Mills, a small village in County Tyrone, a yellow box from Mazarrón in Espana and a green box (complete with Granny-flat extension) from Clontarf in Dublin.

And what has all that got to do with the price of eggs? Well it IS Friday and that can only mean ONE thing - Postcard Friendship Friday. The lovely Marie is the host, do drop in to view some really fun "posts"and postcards from around the globe.

9 comments:

Beth Niquette said...

I've never seen a pillar post box before! How quaint! YOur photos are excellent. Happy PFF!

steviewren said...

Very interesting post! I didn't know any of that info about Anthony Trollope. I wish we had pillar boxes in the USA. (guess one always longs for what one doesn't have)

Zuzana said...

I really enjoyed reading about the "pillar" boxes. Now I finally learned the story behind this amusing word that my Irishman mentions from time to time.;)))
Have a wonderful Friday.;))

Debby said...

I have never seen this, but the are so cool. What a great post.
Happy PFF!
Debby

Marie Reed said...

I would like to see a pillar box wearing a pill box hat now:) It must have been difficult to live with a name like Trollop. Anthony Vulgar ...Anthony Disreputable... I'll never complain about my last name again!

Robin said...

Great post.....So very interesting
Thank you for sharing this.
I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

The granny flat extension - is it an overflow? When I first saw it I assumed it was one of those stamp vending machines, though I'm not sure they exist any more. They were great profit generating schemes - you put your money in the slot, and didn't get a stamp in return.

Blogaire said...

Poor Anthony - I can imagine he must have had a difficult time at school, you know what kids can be like! "Tony you're a Trollope - and your Mother's a trollop", etc. But he had the last laugh didn't he, he achieved fame and fortune.
The "Granny Flat" extension on the Pillar Box seems to be an overflow, and not one of those slot machines that take your money for imaginary stamps.

Carole said...

Love the post boxes!