This list does not contain a complete record of all the authorities consulted. It merely brings together, with a fuller statement of title, the more important references scattered through the footnotes. Unless it is otherwise stated, London is to be understood as the place of publication for the English books here cited.

PRINTED RECORDS—PARLIAMENTARY
DOCUMENTS—REPORTS

Acts of Parliament.

Acts of the Parliament of Scotland. 12 vols., 1814-75.

Acts of the Privy Council of England. New Series, ed. J. R. Dasent. 32 vols., 1890-1907.

Calendar of Border Papers.

Calendar of State Papers, America and West Indies.

Do., Colonial.

Do., Domestic.

Do., Foreign.

Do., Ireland.

Calendar of Treasury Books.

Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers.

Calendar of Treasury Papers.

Finance Reports, 1797-98.

Hansard. The Parliamentary Debates. 422 vols., 1803-91. 41 vols., to 1820; "New Series," 25 vols., to 1830; Third Series, 356 vols., to 1891. The work has been continued under other management since 1891, as Parliamentary Debates, Fourth and Fifth Series.

Howell, T. J. A Complete Collection of State Trials [to 1820]. 34 vols., 1816-28.

Journals of the House of Commons.

Journals of the House of Lords.

Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.

[Cobbett, William.] The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803. 36 vols., 1806-20.

Parliamentary Papers. Since 1831 the volumes for each year have been arranged regularly in four series, as follows:—

1. Bills Public.
2. Reports from Committees.
3. Reports from Commissioners.
4. Accounts and Papers.

The volumes are ordinarily quoted, under each year, according to their consecutive numbering; but each series is also numbered separately.

Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England. Ed. Sir Harris Nicholas. 7 vols., 1834-37.

Reports of the Postmasters-General on the Post Office. Beginning with 1854-55. These may be quoted either according to their consecutive numbering, or by years: 1st report = 1855; 51st report = 1905, etc.

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Reports.

Scobell, Henry. A Collection of Acts and Ordinances made in the Parliament held 3 Nov. 1640 to 17 Sept. 1656. 1658.

OTHER BOOKS

Blomefield, F., and Parkin, C. An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk. 2d ed., 11 vols., 1805-10.

Cunningham, W. The Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times. 3 vols., Cambridge, 1896-1903.

De Laune, Thomas. Angliae Metropolis: or, the Present State of London. 1681.

Dictionary of National Biography.

Eaton, D. B. Civil Service in Great Britain. New York, 1880.

Froude, J. A. A History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. 12 vols., New York, 1870.

Gairdner, J., editor. The Paston Letters. 3 vols., 1872-75.

Green, E. Bibliotheca Somersetensis. 3 vols., Taunton, 1902.

Joyce, H. The History of the Post Office from its Establishment down to 1836. 1893.

Knight, Charles. London.. 6 vols., 1841-44.

Latimer, John. The Annals of Bristol in the XVIIIth Century. Bristol, 1893.

Lewins, William. Her Majesty's Mails. 2d ed., 1865.

London and its Environs described. 6 vols., 1761.

Macaulay, T. B. History of England from the Accession of James II. 4 vols., 1849-56.

Macpherson, David. Annals of Commerce, Manufactures, Fisheries, and Navigation. 4 vols., London and Edinburgh, 1805.

Maitland, William. The History and Survey of London. 2 vols., 1760.

Malden, H. E. The Cely Papers: Selections from the Correspondence and Memoranda of the Cely Family, Merchants of the Staple, A. D. 1475-88. 1900.

May, T. E. Constitutional History of England. 1882.

Noorthouck, John. A New History of London. 1773.

Ogilby, John. Itinerarium Angliae. 1675.

Roberts, George. The Social History of the Southern Counties of England in Past Centuries. 1856.

Rothschild, Arthur de. Histoire de la Poste aux Lettres, depuis ses Origines les plus Anciennes jusqu'À nos Jours. 2d ed., Paris, 1873.

Sharpe, R. R. London and the Kingdom. 3 vols., 1894-95.

Stow, John (1525-1605). A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, improved and enlarged by John Strype. 2 vols., 1720.

Thornbury, W., and Walford, E. Old and New London. 6 vols. [1873-78.]

PERIODICALS

The Economist.

The London Times.

Notes and Queries.

With reference to the foregoing bibliography, the "Letters and Papers of Henry VIII" and the "Calendar of State Papers" have formed the basis of this sketch of the British Post Office during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with many references to the papers of private individuals and institutions collected by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. The "Proceedings and Ordinances and the Acts of the Privy Council" contain important orders issued to the Postmaster-General or the postmen during the sixteenth century as well as complaints from the postmen and the public. From the beginning of the eighteenth century the chief sources of information are the historical summaries appended to the "Reports of Committees and Commissioners" compiled during the first half of the nineteenth century. Of these, the "Report of 1844" is the most important. The "Journals of the Lords and Commons" throw some light upon the history, purpose, and intent of the various acts of Parliament dealing with rates and finance. "The Financial Report of 1797," various returns submitted to the House of Commons, and the reports contained in the "Accounts and Papers" for the first part of the nineteenth century are chiefly concerned with the financial side of the history of the British Post Office. Since 1840 the most important sources of information are the yearly reports of the Postmasters-General, dating from 1854, and the voluminous reports of committees appointed to investigate debated points in the organization and policy of the Post Office as well as to advise upon matters which had produced friction between the department and its employees.

Of the secondary works there is little to be said. The only one from which any important information has been obtained is Joyce's "History of the British Post Office to 1836." This book contains a great deal of valuable matter arranged in rather a haphazard fashion and with no references. Writing as a Post Office official at the end of the nineteenth century, Joyce hardly appreciated the conditions which his predecessors had to meet. In Stow's "London" are found some interesting facts about the London Penny Post, in Blomefield's "Norfolk" early postal conditions in Norwich are described. The other books of the same description contain only incidental references to minor points of Post Office development.