During the early modern period the public postal

systems became central pillars of the emerging public

sphere. Despite the importance of the post in the

transformation of communication, commerce and

culture, little has been known about the functioning of

the post or how it affected the lives of its users and their

societies. In Postal culture in Europe, 1500-1800 , Jay Caplan

provides the first historical and cultural analysis of the

practical conditions of letter-exchange at the dawn of

the modern age.

Caplan opens his analysis by exploring the economic,

political, social and existential interests that were

invested in the postal service, and traces the history of

the three main European postal systems of the era, the

Thurn and Taxis, the French Royal Post and the British

Post Office. He then explores how the post worked, from

the folding and sealing of letters to their collection,

sorting, and transportation. Beyond providing service

to the general public, these systems also furnished early

modern states with substantial revenue and effective

surveillance tools in the form of the Black Cabinets or

Black Chambers. Caplan explains how postal services

highlighted the tension between state power and the

emerging concept of the free individual, with rights to

private communication outside the public sphere. Postal

systems therefore affected how letter writers and readers

conceived and expressed themselves as individuals,

which the author demonstrates through an examination

of the correspondence of Voltaire and Rousseau, not

merely as texts but as communicative acts.

In this book Jay Caplan provides readers with both a

comprehensive overview of the changes wrought by the

newly public postal system, and a thought-provoking

account of the expectations that have led to our culture

of instant communication.