'Vivid, detailed, colourful ... a first-class history ... all sorts of delights leap out of these pages' Daily Telegraph

From the very first 'master of the post' in 1512 to the vast network of today, the Royal Mail is an intrinsic part of everyday life in Britain. This book tells its extraordinary story in full. Whether describing the sensation caused by the penny post in 1840, the Post Office boffins who helped the wartime code-breakers of Bletchley Park, the Great Train Robbery of 1963, the growth of telegrams and telephones, or the many visionaries, philanthropists and firebrands who made the service what it is today, Masters of the Post shows how the history of the Royal Mail is our history.