The New Year card pictured here is typical of the expanding range of greetings cards that appeared after 1840 when Rowland Hill invented the idea of postage stamps. At first there was just one stamp and this was called the Penny Black. It cost a penny and with this a letter could be sent anywhere in the country. Before the stamp was invented, it was far more costly to send a letter because the person who received the letter paid for the postage and the amount depended on how far a letter had travelled.

So with the cheaper postage, many more people started sending letters as well as greetings cards. The first Christmas card was sent in 1843 and it soon became a popular custom. Letters and cards were the only way of keeping in touch because telephones were not invented until 1876 and even then were not common in Victorian homes.

With the arrival of the penny post, streets had to be given name plates and houses numbers so that the postmen knew where to deliver letters. Post boxes (the first ones were green) appeared on street corners and people began to fit post boxes in their front doors so that letters could be delivered.