cover 1d. letter sheet, A24, variety stitch watermark, used from Oundle to London dated 12 May 1840, neat red Maltese Cross cancellation, the address panel with amusing message ridiculing the design and the theory of the new postage system "Come men of all lands - be they ever so many - We offer you commerce of soul for a penny; A penny to Lapland - to China the same!- So at least seem our figures and types to proclaim As the thing our friend Baring would have us believe - And when did a Whig ever mean to deceive?"; faint traces of toning in no way detract. A wonderful item of philatelic history and one of the earliest known examples of manuscript caricature. Photo