A fine work which describes the Overland mail within India (from about 1840 to 1870) particularly between Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and the ways by which a sender could get mail across India quickly in either direction. For the first time, the Express, After Packet and Late Fee services and charges are described from official sources and their successes and failures explained. A great deal of background information is also provided in appendices, which reproduce many extracts from original documents including the Post Office Annual Reports of the period. These discuss the changing routes of the Overland mail across India and the effects on postal services of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-58. Other appendices give the dates and closing times of Expresses to and from Bombay and the After Packet from Calcutta in connection with the Overland mail and the growth of the railway system. The final appendix discusses the service Thomas Waghorn provided across Egypt between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.