Gallows letter

In postal history, a gallows letter was a letter with a "gallows" mark meaning "very quickly".

Not to be confused with Letters from Beneath the Gallows.
Gallows letter, England, 21 August 1598

Gallows letters were official letters or dispatches used by the Privy Council of Elizabeth I of England. To express an extreme degree of urgency of delivery, the letter had on the address panel a rough drawing of a gallows. Sometimes the picture included a hanging body. These drawings could also have repeated written directions as "haste haste", "post haste", "haste for life", "for life haste", etc.[1]

There are also modern forgeries of such letters. This is when counterfeit gallows marks have been applied onto original letters.[2]

See also

References
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  1. Beal, P. (2008). "Gallows letter". A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology: 1450 to 2000. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 169–171. ISBN 9780199576128. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  2. Vollmeier, P. (2002). "Forgeries of handwritten indications on old letters". Fakes, Forgeries & Experts (5). Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
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