Towns > Glasgow > 1828-1912 - Post-Office annual Glasgow directory > 1854-1855

POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS.
A Book Packet may contain any number of separate Books, Maps, or Prints, and any
quantity of Paper, Vellum, or Parchment; and the Books, Maps, Paper, &c, may be
either Printed, Written, or Plain, or any mixture of the three. Further, all legiti-
mate Binding, Mounting, or Covering of the same, or of a portion thereof, will be
allowed, whether such binding, &c, be loose or attached ; as also Rollers, in the case
of Prints, Markers (whether of paper or otherwise) in the case of Books ; and in short,
whatever is necessary for the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter, or
usually appertains thereto.
FOREIGN BOOK POST.
Printed Books, Magazines, Reviews, and Pamphlets (whether British, Colonial, or
Foreign), may be sent to British West Indies, Gibraltar, by packets via Plymouth ;
East Indies, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Malta, via Southampton ; Bermuda,
Canada, via Halifax ; Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Ed-
ward's Island, via Halifax ; St. Helena, by Packet ; New South Wales, by Packet ;
New Zealand, by Packet or Private Ship; Montevideo, by Packet, at the following
rates : —
For each Packet not exceeding \ lb., 6d. ; exceeding \ lb. and not exceeding 1 lb.,
Is. ; Is. being charged for every lb. or fraction of a lb. Provided, however, that the fol-
lowing conditions be observed :— 1st. Every such Packet must be sent without a cover,
or in a cover open at the sides or ends. 2d. It must contain a single Volume only
(whether printed Book, Magazine, Review, or Pamphlet). 3d. It must not exceed
two feet in length, breadth, or depth. 4th. It must have no writing or marks upon
the cover or its contents, except the name and address of the person to whom it may
be sent. 5th. The Postage must be prepaid in full, by affixing outside the Packet or
its cover the proper amount of Stamps.
Periodicals, unstamped, and not of daily publication, and Pamphlets, if under 16
oz. in weight, and printed in the language of the country from which they are sent,
and containing only a single number of any periodical work, or a single Pamphlet in one
cover, may be forwarded to, or received from, the United States, France, Prussia, via
Belgium ; Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Hamburg ; Bremen, Lubec, and Olden-
burg, via Hamburg, at the following rates, which must be prepaid when sent from
this country :— Not exceeding 2 oz., Id. ; above 2 and under 3 oz., 6d. ; above 3 and
imder 4 oz., 8d., &c, 2d. being added for every additional oz. Pamphlets, (not being
Periodicals,) when sent to the United States, must not exceed 8 oz.
The following Instructions have been addressed to all Postmasters, and are strictly
acted upon : —
" General Post-Office. — On and after 1st January, 1845, should any Letter
or Packet be tendered at your Office, which you may ascertain to contain, or which
you have every reason to believe contains, any of the following articles, viz. : — Any
Glass or Glass Bottle ; any Razor, Scissors, Knife, Fori;, or other Sharp or Pointed
Instrument ; any Leeches, Game, Fish, Flesh, Fruit, Vegetables, or other perishable sub-
stance; any Bladder or other Vessel containing Liquid; or any article, matter, or thing
whatsoever, which might, by pressure or otherwise, be rendered injurious either to the
Officers of the Post-Office, or to the contents of the Mail Bags ; you toill refuse to re-
ceive such Letter or Packet.
" In the event of any Letter or Packet being taken in by you, and you do not, until
afterwards, discover that it contains any article as above described, or should any
such Letter or Packet be deposited in the Letter Box, you will not forward it on its
destination, but you will detain it in your Office, and inform me by the first Post of the
circumstances, stating the precise address of the Letter or Packet, and its contents,
or what you suppose them to be, when proper steps will be taken in this Department
in the case, and you will be instructed in what manner to dispose of the Letter or
Packet.
" Should any Letter or Packet, containing any article as before-mentioned, not be
discovered by the Postmaster at whose office it may be posted, but be forwarded on to
its destination, the Receiving Postmaster, to whose town it may be addressed, upon
discovering, or having every reason to believe, that its contents are such as those
alluded to, will not send it out for delivery, but will detain it in his office, reporting the
circumstance by the first Post, and stating the nature of its contents, when he will be
duly instructed in what manner to dispose of it."