Penny Black VR official Penny Black VR official The VR official was one of three postage stamps introduced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in May 1840 for the pre-payment of postage. While the Penny Black and the Two Pence Blue were for use by the general public, as were the Mulready envelopes and letter sheets, the VR official was for use on official mail. In appearance the VR Official was the same as the issued Penny Black except that the Maltese crosses in the top corners were removed and replaced by the letters V and R, hence its common name.
Penny dreadful killed the penny dreadful by the simple process of producing the 'ha'penny dreadfuller'". The quality of the Harmsworth/Amalgamated Press papers began to improve throughout the early 20th century, however. By the time of the First World War, papers such as "Union Jack" dominated the market in the UK. Two popular characters to come out of the penny dreadfuls were Jack Harkaway, introduced in the "Boys of England" in 1871, and Sexton Blake, who began in "the Half-penny Marvel" in 1893. In 1904, the "Union Jack" became "Sexton Blake's own paper", and he appeared in every issue thereafter, up until the