Whole sheet. Choose a mark on the sheet or in the list: the sheet will zoom in on it, and a transcription and description will appear here. Each mark you view adds one link to the record below.
The journey fits on paper
One letter before the railway
One sheet under the magnifier. Two stamps mark the beginning and the end, while the middle of the sheet is silent.
Demonstration diagramThe paper, stamps, station names and times are illustrative. This is not a scan, not an identified letter and not a specialist’s reading; there is no expert-checked reading.
Frontdiagram
Delivery address (example)
Station B
illustrative place; there is no address from a real document
posted at: Station A (example)
Backdiagram
Mark 1 of 3 · front
Posting stamp
STATION A · day 1 · 08:00illustrative reading: a value from the diagram, not a reading of a document
- Expert-checked reading
- None. For a real letter, a reading of the characters confirmed by a specialist would go here.
- Documents
- The place and moment at which the item entered the postal network (if the reading of the stamp is confirmed).
- Does not say
- When the coach set off, or by what means and which route the item travelled.
Link: acceptance at station A, day 1, 08:00 (example).
Mark 2 of 3 · back
No mark between the stamps
empty areathere is no stamp to read
- Expert-checked reading
- Not applicable: an absent mark cannot be read.
- Documents
- Only that this item (in the diagram) has no intermediate mark.
- Does not say
- Whether the item was travelling, waiting or changing carrier. The absence of a stamp is not evidence of a halt in a post office, nor evidence of travel.
Link: gap, no mark between day 1, 08:00 and day 3, 08:00.
Mark 3 of 3 · back
Receiving stamp
STATION B · day 3 · 08:00illustrative reading: a value from the diagram, not a reading of a document
- Expert-checked reading
- None. For a real letter, a reading of the characters confirmed by a specialist would go here.
- Documents
- The place and moment at which the item arrived at station B.
- Does not say
- How much of the interval was travel, nights and waiting. Nor does it say whether and when the addressee collected the letter.
Link: arrival at station B, day 3, 08:00 (example).
One axis, two lanes
Lane 1 comes solely from the stamps: 48 hours between posting and receipt. Lane 2 is a model of stagecoach travel based on assumptions. Changing the model does not change the reading of the stamps. The model is available straight away; marks 1 and 3 (above), however, determine the whole length of lane 1.
Marks viewed: 0 of 3.
start of lane 1posting stamp · day 1, 08:00
end of lane 1 (48 h)receiving stamp · day 3, 08:00
- Lane 1 · documented48 h 00 min
- Driving in the model10 h 38 min
- Horse changes in the model1 h 00 min
- Overnight rests in the model14 h 00 min
- Unexplained difference (gap)22 h 22 min
Lane 2 shows totals of time, not their order. The unexplained difference is not a halt in a post office: we do not know that.
Shared axis 0–48 h: both lanes have the same length, and the end of lane 1 is its lower end.
The model accounts for 25 h 38 min of the 48 h. That leaves 22 h 22 min that neither the stamps nor the model explain. Changing the assumptions neither changes the reading of the stamps nor fills the gap.
Model assumptions (change them)
The starting values are illustrative assumptions of the diagram (carried over from V2), not measurements or source data. The number of nights (2) follows from the days of the stamps and is not changed here.
Record: what follows from this
All the links are here from the start; a label shows which marks have already been viewed. The record separates what can be seen on the paper from what is missing.
- Posting.Posting stamp, station A, day 1, 08:00 (example). It confirms acceptance, not departure.
- Gap.There is no mark of any kind between the stamps. We do not know whether the item was travelling or waiting.
- Receipt.Receiving stamp, station B, day 3, 08:00 (example).
- Interval from the stamps.48 h between stamp 1 and stamp 3. This is the only figure the marks provide.
- Model.With the starting assumptions the model accounts for 25 h 38 min; 22 h 22 min remains unexplained. This is a comparison with a model, not a historical finding.
How to read this draft
What is what
The drawing of the sheet, the stamps, the names “Station A / B”, the dates “day 1 / day 3” and the times are our own diagram. They are not historical evidence. A document and a reading of its characters would require the material to be supplied.
What we do not settle
- the era of the postal network and the basis of the dates,
- the identification of real stamps,
- the cause of the difference between the model and the stamps.
What was removed from V2
The form for dates, three legs and halts no longer opens the page; a short panel of model assumptions remains. Removed were conclusions of the kind “this percentage is the days of the post’s departure”, invented annotations on the letter, a photograph from an external server and saving in the browser’s memory.