The first impression of W. Reginald Bray (1879-1939) was one of an ordinary middle-class Englishman quietly living out his time as an accountant in the leafy suburb of Forest Hill, London. A glimpse behind his study door, however, revealed his extraordinary passion for sending unusual items through the mail. In 1898, Bray purchased a copy of the Post Office Guide, and began to study the regulations published quarterly by the British postal authorities. He discovered that the smallest item one could post was a bee, and the largest, an elephant. Intrigued,he decided to experiment with sending ordinary and strange objects through the post unwrapped, including a turnip, abowler hat, a bicycle pump, shirt cuffs, seaweed, a clothes brush, even a rabbit's skull. He eventually posted his Irish terrier and himself (not together), earning him the name "The Human Letter." He also mailed cards to challenging addressessome in the form of picture puzzles, others sent to ambiguous recipients at hard to reach destinationsall in the name of testing the deductive powers of the beleaguered postman. Over time hispassion changed from sending curios to amassing the world's largest collection of autographs, also via the post. Starting with key British military officers involved in the Second Boer War, he acquired thousands of autographs during the first four decades of the twentieth centuryof politicians, military men, performing artists, aviators, sporting stars, and many others. By the time he died in 1939, Bray had sent out more than thirty-two thousand postal curios and autograph requests. The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects tells W. Reginald Bray's remarkable tale for the first time and includes delightful illustrations of some of his most amazing postal creations. Readers will never look at the objects they post the same way again.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"The image that emerges from this antic and visually arresting volume is of a blithe English rogue, testing the system, stretching its limitsan experimenter, playing the most relentless, and amusing, of pranks."
-- Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn --The New Yorker, September 15, 2010
"A handsomely designed and illustrated biography... a volume which will surely fascinate any fans of quirky social history, any admirers of the unpredictable human spirit, and any curators of the odder corners of the art world. The book is simply a delight." --Barnes & Noble Book Review
"Not only is the story itself interesting, but the book is also quite pretty (look at those endpapers!)" --aesthetic outburst blog
"A lushly illustrated book with interesting bits of text." --Letter Writers Alliance Blog
"Weirdly wonderful items that recall the peculiar posting activities of the man known as The Human Letter." --British Philatelic Bulletin
Profusely illustrated in color with dozens of examples of Bray's handiwork, [The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects] provides an entertaining and informative biography of `The Human Letter' and `The Autograph King'. --Philatelic Exporter
About the Author
John Tingey started collecting stamps fifty years ago when his parents gave him his first stamp album and a 6d packet from Woolworths. He is married, with two children and two grandchildren, and lives in England.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fine survey that pairs history, biography and art in an intriguing account
December 6, 2010
Format:Hardcover
The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects tells of a middle-class Englishman living out his time as an accountant in London, whose passion for sending unusual items through the mail leads to an uncovering of curious postal rules. His experiments sending unusual objects through the mails makes for a fine survey that pairs history, biography and art in an intriguing account.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
You sometimes come across a person who says, "This is the book that changed my life." What if the book is the British _Post Office Guide_? This is what happened to the otherwise rather ordinary W. Reginald Bray, who nineteen years old in 1898, plunked down his sixpence at the Post Office to buy the large quarterly reference book. It is not at all clear what inspired Bray to make his purchase, but studying it, he learned of various postal regulations, and determined to test them out and to push limits. He had a lifetime of this curious hobby, which branched into collecting autographs by mail, and he meticulously kept records of what he sent out and got back. The results of his lifetime of postal adventures are beautifully recorded in _The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects_ (Princeton Architectural Press) by John Tingey. The author is a philatelist who chanced upon a few of the odd postcards Bray had sent out, and started to hunt up more. Though Bray kept and filed all his postal experiments, his family sold the bulk of his archive after his death in 1939. It isn't clear where it all went, so Tingey has had his own adventures in finding specimens (and will be very happy if you can tell him of more). The handsome book is a tribute to the lifetime's work of a remarkable British eccentric, and it is crammed with beautiful illustrations of some of Bray's postal experiments.
Bray was an otherwise unremarkable accountant, but he must have wondered how far postal officials would go to follow their own rules. Would, for instance, a postcard clearly and legibly addressed, but in mirror writing, be delivered? Why, yes, it was; some postman took the extra effort to hold it up to a mirror and see it through. He enlisted the help of his mother, who crocheted an envelope with a needlework address; stamped, it was delivered just fine. He wrote a poem in which parts of the address were included and underlined. When he wrote an address on a postcard with sealing wax, however, the wax came unstuck and could not be read, so the card was returned. Returned also was the postcard sent "To Any Resident of London;" the unforgiving rubber stamp from the Post Office said, "Insufficiently addressed." A bunch of onions with an address tag was properly delivered, as was a turnip with the address carved into it. Bray was interested that living specimens could be mailed; he successfully mailed his terrier. The ultimate in his experiments was, as the book's title asserts, mailing himself. He did this three times. When he first mailed himself in 1900, there was no proof that he had done so, so in 1903 he re-mailed himself using Registered Mail, and the book includes a reproduction of the registry form to show that "Person Cyclist" was successfully delivered to Bray's father, who signed for the "Letter or Parcel." He mailed himself for the third time (he got the nickname "The Human Letter") as a publicity stunt in 1932. He developed an interest in postmarks from around the world, he sent messages by bottle and by balloon, and he sent out over 30,000 requests for autographs; just under half were successful. Hitler never sent an autograph (an underling sent more than one letter explaining why, because Bray asked more than once). Neither did King Edward VII.
John Tingey has produced a funny and unexpected book with many amusing illustrations. Bray would not have been pleased that all his documentation was dispersed and that only bits and pieces of his life's work can be picked up here and there. He would, however, have been satisfied at how much Tingey has found and with how much delight Tingey has presented the results here. There have been more important lives, and more detailed biographies, but few that can match this for eccentricity and drollery.
Bray was an otherwise unremarkable accountant, but he must have wondered how far postal officials would go to follow their own rules. Would, for instance, a postcard clearly and legibly addressed, but in mirror writing, be delivered? Why, yes, it was; some postman took the extra effort to hold it up to a mirror and see it through. He enlisted the help of his mother, who crocheted an envelope with a needlework address; stamped, it was delivered just fine. He wrote a poem in which parts of the address were included and underlined. When he wrote an address on a postcard with sealing wax, however, the wax came unstuck and could not be read, so the card was returned. Returned also was the postcard sent "To Any Resident of London;" the unforgiving rubber stamp from the Post Office said, "Insufficiently addressed." A bunch of onions with an address tag was properly delivered, as was a turnip with the address carved into it. Bray was interested that living specimens could be mailed; he successfully mailed his terrier. The ultimate in his experiments was, as the book's title asserts, mailing himself. He did this three times. When he first mailed himself in 1900, there was no proof that he had done so, so in 1903 he re-mailed himself using Registered Mail, and the book includes a reproduction of the registry form to show that "Person Cyclist" was successfully delivered to Bray's father, who signed for the "Letter or Parcel." He mailed himself for the third time (he got the nickname "The Human Letter") as a publicity stunt in 1932. He developed an interest in postmarks from around the world, he sent messages by bottle and by balloon, and he sent out over 30,000 requests for autographs; just under half were successful. Hitler never sent an autograph (an underling sent more than one letter explaining why, because Bray asked more than once). Neither did King Edward VII.
John Tingey has produced a funny and unexpected book with many amusing illustrations. Bray would not have been pleased that all his documentation was dispersed and that only bits and pieces of his life's work can be picked up here and there. He would, however, have been satisfied at how much Tingey has found and with how much delight Tingey has presented the results here. There have been more important lives, and more detailed biographies, but few that can match this for eccentricity and drollery.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a quirky and interesting book about a quirky and interesting man. Entertaining and delightful book. My husband and I enjoyed reading bits of this out to each other.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
So good
I loved this book and this mans ingenuity. My goodness he never gave up and he constantly dreamed up new challenges for the British mail delivery system. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. M. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting book!
I bought this book on a whim, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The title of this book speaks for itself.
Published 4 months ago by CurbMyEnthusiasm
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