W. Reginald Bray: The Man Who Posted Himself and Other Strange Objects

by John Tingey

The first impression of W. Reginald Bray (1879-1939) was one of an ordinary middle-class Englishman quietly living out his time as an accountant in the leafy suburb of Forest Hill, London. A glimpse behind his study door, however, revealed his extraordinary passion for sending unusual items through the mail.

In 1898, Bray purchased a copy of the Post Office Guide, and began to study the regulations published quarterly by the British postal authorities. He discovered that the smallest item one could post was a bee, and the largest, an elephant. Intrigued, he decided to experiment with sending ordinary and strange objects through the post unwrapped, including a turnip, a bowler hat, a bicycle pump, shirt cuffs, seaweed, a clothes brush, even a rabbit's skull. He eventually posted his Irish terrier and himself (not together), earning him the name "The Human Letter." He also mailed cards to challenging addresses - some in the form of picture puzzles, others sent to ambiguous recipients at hard to reach destinations - all in the name of testing the deductive powers of the beleaguered postman.

Over time his passion changed from sending curios to amassing the world's largest collection of autographs, also via the post. Starting with key British military officers involved in the Second Boer War, he acquired thousands of autographs during the first four decades of the twentieth century - of politicians, military men, performing artists, aviators, sporting stars, and many others. By the time he died in 1939, Bray had sent out more than thirty-two thousand postal curios and autograph requests.

The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects tells W. Reginald Bray's remarkable tale for the first time and includes delightful illustrations of some of his most amazing postal creations. Readers will never look at the objects they post the same way again.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Art, 19th Century

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2010

Reviews

[Classic Bhaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well written and feel good fun story of a man who wanted to test the mail system. He ended up being known for this hobby and being one of the "fathers" of mail. The story was fun to read and I found it very interesting and fast paced. The images thorugh the book were beautifully copied added and great detail could be seen.

If you like reading about "oddities" and want a fast paced and interesting non-fiction to read, I highly suggest.

I will say I was drawn to this at first because I collect postcards from around the world, but I feel like anyone would enjoy reading this. It truly is about a man following his hobby and having fun.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This amazing and somewhat funny story about W. Reginald Bray's postal...adventures was an easy read. With LOTS of photos, it wasn't exactly a thick history book or biography, but wasn't a quick read either. If you're not interested in postal history or stories of interesting people, then this book probably isn't for you, but if you have some patience and can read it with a mindset of "what did he do this time?" then I think you'll find it amusing.

As someone who is interested in postal history and the workings of the mail, this book was pretty fascinating. How one person could amass such a collection of things, and send such a mixture of strange items (including HIMSELF) all just for the sake of testing the post office and having a bit of fun makes me shake my head just a bit. The stories in this book could never be repeated in today's world, which is somewhat sad but also makes a lot of sense. Why the heck the post office had so many rules (and loopholes) that allowed Bray to send a turnip home through the mail I may never fully understand!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply loved, loved, loved this book. Not only is W. Reginald Bray a fascinating character-- a true English Eccentric-- but Princeton Architectural Press put together an incredibly beautiful book. The illustrations bring the text to life and gave me loads of creative ideas.

It's a short book-- most of the pages are dedicated to illustration-- but one that I'm sure I'll come back to for inspiration. It's not a detailed postal history, it's much more fun! I suggest you read it when you're feeling a bit whimsical or puckish.

[Marije · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi vormgegeven boek over een bijzondere man. Vooral het eerste deel van het boek vond ik bizar en interessant om te lezen. Over wat Bray allemaal verstuurde en wat hij ermee probeerde aan te tonen. Het laatste stuk van het boek vond ik iets minder boeiend. Desondanks: aanrader.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Reminds me of the times I would send items home to the small Kansas town where my parents lived. I would simply address the letter to Mom with the town name and zip code. They would always make it to the right place :-).

[Angela Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming! A lovely piece of hidden history that makes you want to run out, buy a stack of postcards and explore the many ways you can play with the postal service. Hearkens back to an age where the arrival of the mail was highlight and treasured moment in the day - and a window on the world beyond the front doorstep. Bray was a playful, brilliant and creative spirit whose hobby evolved into a collection that not only amuses and fascinates, but has preserved lovely vignettes of both everyday history, and turbulent moments of interest to all. A wonderful way to curl up and spend a rainy afternoon!

[Patrick Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings, but mostly positive! This is a beautiful, impeccably-designed book. I’d have liked this to be more detailed, autobiographically speaking, where this is almost more of a visual presentation of Bray’s pieces. But there is plenty of charm in the text it does contain — and I suppose, if nothing else, the brevity is testament to the fact a philatelist wrote it; you can imagine Tingey is used to seeing a lot of information passed along in small spaces!

[Theresa Connors · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining book about an eccentric Englishman who made a hobby out of challenging the British Postal Service rules. He played around with addresses and tested what kinds of objects would be delivered as "letters". It was a quick read filled with many images of his actual postcards and letters.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those who enjoy odd, little books, you'll probably greatly enjoy this extensively illustrated book about a man with a most unusual hobby. Those who enjoy Postcrossing (an international postal exchange) might also be amused by the creativity of some of his posts.

[Michael Champagne · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a quirky dude! Found his story to be slightly entertaining, but not as interesting as I thought it would be.

[Sarah Coller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun read and has inspired me to do a little postal experiment of my own!

[Nina Tack]

I want to be friends with his man. I'm sure I was this man.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this book on my shelves for YEARS. I think a decade. I honestly don't know why I decided to pull it off the shelf and read it now...it just caught my eye. It's a non-fiction, easy read with lots of pictures about a man who tests the limits and regulations of the postal service back in the early 1900s. It's endearing, interesting and kind of funny. I've been on a quest to find interesting books that can be read in a weekend for our vacation home, and this definitely fits the bill. I also have been participating in Postcrossing.com for over a year now, sending post cards around the world...so it's timely in that way too. I gave it 3 stars because I liked it...did I love it...no, but sitting here thinking about it, maybe I did. I'm bumping it up two 4 stars just because the man is quite a character and a prankster - love that.

[Rob Atkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight but amusing account of English eccentric W.R. Bray, a practitioner of proto"Mail Art" a half century before Ray Johnson 'invented' the genre. Nicely designed and illustrated with photographs of his postal relics , but frankly there's not much here in the way of aesthetics. Bray's preoccupation wasn't with art but with testing the mettle of the Royal Post by sending prank challenges through the mail -- cards with pictorial/rebus/versified addresses and the like. After successfully mailing such (unpackaged, addressed, and stamped) items as a coin, a turnip, a rabbit's skull, and finally even himself, he seems to have graduated to the more pedestrian hobby of autograph collecting (albeit with remarkable success). This book, published by the Princeton Architectural Press, was written by a stamp collector who's an enthusiast and collector of Bray's cards. This does seem appropriate as his ephemera seems like it would be more of interest to philatelists and postal collectors. Those coming to this from an art-historical interest will likely find Bray an interesting footnote at best.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because, who wouldn't want to read about a man who tried to mail all sorts of cool things? The answer is, disappointingly, all of us.

The book, which has maybe 20 pages of text, is almost all images of the postcards and other artifacts from his life. Yes, what he did is curious and mildly interesting and would be well worth a magazine article or a human interest piece. But what he did is also shockingly wasteful of an decreasingly important civil service (he mailed himself twice, which required a postman accompanying him to his desired location on his bike). He claims that he was merely testing the postal code as written, but that doesn't necessarily seem to me like an important use of resources...

Regardless, it seems that the author happened upon this somewhat interesting man and decided that he wanted to make some money and didn't give any thought to the fact that usually authors write more than a few sentences.

The upside is that the number of pictures in this book made it, maybe, a one hour read.

[LeeLee Lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes about half an hour to an hour to read, depending on the speed of reading and how long you choose to stare at the pictures. It's mostly a picture-book. The first half details the Englishman himself's love of playing with the post office: he writes things backwards (mirror-style), ships his dog, ships himself, ships a skull, collages things together, tries weird ways of sending things from other countries to himself, sews addresses into starched cloth and tries to send that, etc. This is definitely the best part of the book. The second half is his obsession with getting signatures: of anyone, including English generals abroad, celebrities, criminals, everyday people who just happened to be in the news, train conductors, Hitler, the Queen, etc. He sent out thousands of signature requests, and the pissy denials (the Germans weren't giving away Hitler's signature, though the Englishman got other Nazi generals) are arguably better than the signatures he received.

This book is mad fun. I want to dick around with the post office now.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated book about a most intriguing Englishman. The first person to post himself by Royal Mail! W. Reginald Bray tested the Royal Mail to its limits, sending rabbit's skulls, turnips and other oddities through the mail. His expressed intention was not artistic, yet his projects seem like a forerunner of mail art and are quite inspiring. As a teenager I used to spend a lot of time in pubs and used beer mats as postcards - I'm not sure if the Royal Mail would deliver them nowadays?

[Saellys · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating and beautifully designed examination of the origins of mail art and pushing the (literal) envelope of what could be accomplished through the post. However, probably due to the fact that the story is told mainly through artifacts, clippings, and family legend several decades removed, there is a certain soul lacking in this account. Was there a reason for Bray's obsession with manipulating the postal system? We'll never know.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only took me about an hour to read this...more suited to a coffee table than a bookshelf. Based on the title I expected more stories about the interesting adventures of posting strange things in the mail, but that only occupied a fraction of the book. I imagine it would be more interesting to stamp-collectors and historians interested in the turn of the century era.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories of individuals fascinated with odd pursuits. For W.R. Bray, the earliest pioneer of mail art, it was experimenting with the British postal service. [full review].

[Henry Denander · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Tingey's The Englishman Who Mailed Himself and Other Curious Objects (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010) is a wonderful book for anyone interested in mail art, this guy was before Ray Johnson and did some fantastic mailings! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in mail art & postal art. The book is beautifully designed, full of illustrations!

[Mark Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book with which to start the year. John Tingey's beautifully written, beautifully designed and beautifully illustrated book chronicles the story of W. Reginald Bray (1879 - 1939), who tested the limits of postal regulations by sending different unwrapped objects - a turnip, a bowler hat, his terrier, and yes, himself - through the mail.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was mostly interested in his successes exploiting the British postal system mailing things that one wouldn't think could be mailed (including himself) rather than the longer section about his collecting autographs. The illustrations are excellent.

[Jake Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

What made Englishman Bray tick? He could be like Willy Wonka, with a method to his madness, but we don't find out. The book, like a poorly-done museum, displays bewitching objects without illuminating them.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this biography. I don't like biographies, but this one was cool. Everyone's got to have a hobby, I guess, and posting strange objects and sending requests for autographs is just as good as any. Dude led and interesting life.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting, fairly short biography. I enjoyed the photos included of some of the original mail that was posted. I would have preferred more photos of the unique mail, and less of the autographs.

[Ellen Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read for anyone with the collecting bug.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to say this but it was only okay. I wanted to know EXACTLY how he posted his dog and himself. I raced through it maybe an hour of so.

[Keight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Link to booklog

[Lauren G · Rating 5 out of 5]

this man is my hero.