The Historical Spectator.

Language of Postage Stamps

Victorians delighted in piling significance on the most insignificant things. The “language of flowers” still keeps a tenuous currency among certain young women of the more ethereal sort, but the language of postage stamps has been mostly forgotten. If you have old cards and letters with stamps affixed at odd angles in odd places, now you know why.

The language of a postage stamp is not always the same. It depends how it is placed on an envelope as to its significance. When a postage stamp has been placed upside down on the left corner of the letter, it means, “I love you;” on the same crosswise, “My heart is another’s;” straight up and down, “Good-bye, sweetheart, goodbye;” upside down in the right-hand corner, “Write no more;” in the centre at the top, “Yes;” opposite at the bottom, “No;” on the right-hand corner at a right angle, “Do you love me?” in the left-hand corner, “1 hate you;” top corner on the right, “I wish your friendship;” bottom corner on the left, “I seek your acquaintance;” on a line with the surname, “Accept my love;” the same upside down, “I am engaged;” at a right angle in the same place, “I long to see you;” in the middle of the right-hand edge, “Write immediately.”

Our Lady’s Book, from the R. H. McDonald Drug Company, 1891.