Artist pushes the envelope for posties
An artist posted a set of cryptic envelopes in a bid to discover how far a postman will go to make his deliveries.
On one of the envelopes there was an unsolved crossword - the postmen had to find the answers to form the address - on another the address took the form of an eye test.
On others illustrator Harriet Russell drew mazes, anagrams, illustrations, puns and visual games. Each required the postman the do something to reveal the address the package was meant for.
In total she sent 130 odd envelopes and amazingly 120 arrived safely at the intended address, even when it required the postie to fill out a crossword, or join the dots, to work out the exact address.
Now 75 of the envelopes are to be published in a book 'Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail' complete with the postmarks to prove they went through the Royal Mail system.
Harriet says she was inspired by a family collection of over 250 mis-addressed envelopes which still managed to reach their Surrey house.
Her grandfather, Henry Ponsonby, a Private Secretary to the Queen Victoria also used to send decorative envelopes in which he incorporated the addresses into drawings.
The publishers have also launched a competition to engage the public, asking them to send in their ideas for an artistically addressed envelope, for details of the competition visit: www.allisonandbusby.com
Book credit: Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail, by Harriet Russell is out now (published by Allison & Busby in hardback, £10)
Images credit: Copyright © 2005 by Harriet Russell. Stamp imagery © Royal Mail Group plc 1998-2004.
Link:
Amazon.com - Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail
An artist posted a set of cryptic envelopes in a bid to discover how far a postman will go to make his deliveries.On one of the envelopes there was an unsolved crossword - the postmen had to find the answers to form the address - on another the address took the form of an eye test.
On others illustrator Harriet Russell drew mazes, anagrams, illustrations, puns and visual games. Each required the postman the do something to reveal the address the package was meant for.
In total she sent 130 odd envelopes and amazingly 120 arrived safely at the intended address, even when it required the postie to fill out a crossword, or join the dots, to work out the exact address.
Now 75 of the envelopes are to be published in a book 'Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail' complete with the postmarks to prove they went through the Royal Mail system.
Harriet says she was inspired by a family collection of over 250 mis-addressed envelopes which still managed to reach their Surrey house.
Her grandfather, Henry Ponsonby, a Private Secretary to the Queen Victoria also used to send decorative envelopes in which he incorporated the addresses into drawings.
The publishers have also launched a competition to engage the public, asking them to send in their ideas for an artistically addressed envelope, for details of the competition visit: www.allisonandbusby.com
Book credit: Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail, by Harriet Russell is out now (published by Allison & Busby in hardback, £10)Images credit: Copyright © 2005 by Harriet Russell. Stamp imagery © Royal Mail Group plc 1998-2004.
Link:
Amazon.com - Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail
