Special Delivery: Canada's Postal Heritage

For more than three hundred years, the history of our postal service been closely linked with the development of Canada. Postal communications have helped Canadians keep in touch from the days when letters were passed from hand to hand by travellers, to the lightning fast electronic mail of today. Special Delivery: Canada’s Postal Heritage is a lavishly illustrated hard cover book with historic, artistic, architectural and philatelic content. The history of the postal service is covered from the very beginnings through the colonial era, Confederation, and the World Wars through to the computer era. Archival photographs and illustrations accompany pictures of unique antiques and artifacts from the collection of the Canadian Postal Museum including pens, inkwells and furniture. For more than one hundred and fifty years, Canadian postage stamps have illustrated the history, people and events important to this country. The book covers about twenty stamps representative of our heritage. The illustrations and stories of these diminutive works of art will appeal to both the neophyte collector and the dedicated philatelist. Canada’s Postal Service fuels the nation's economy and delivers hundreds of millions of communiqués and contributes billions of dollars to the economy. Special Delivery shows the history of how this mail is, and was, transported. Whether delivery was by foot, sled, coach, boat, train, plane or modem, ingenuity and adaptability have been the keys to overcoming Canada’s many diverse climatic and geographic obstacles. Throughout our country the distinct architectural styles of our post office buildings reflect our heritage. Whether located in a small general store or an imposing granite edifice, the post office is a focal point for the community it serves. Special Delivery examines the architecture, location and function of the buildings that symbolize our postal heritage. From horseback and canoe to courier and electronic services, the people who move our mail have relied on the best available ways of delivering mail. But past or present, it is those individuals that are the most important element of the postal service. For hundreds of years our postmasters, letter carriers, sorters, drivers and other dedicated employees have delivered not only letters, but medicine, fruit, dynamite, tools and all manner of material vital to Canadians. Special Delivery: Canada’s Postal Heritage is the first major illustrated history of our postal system. It is one of those very few "must have" items this season for anyone interested in Canadian heritage.