Are these Taunton handstamps from 1790 & 1791 the same ?

The British County Catalogue (BCC, published 1990) has two Taunton straight-line handstamps of similar sizes with overlapping date ranges.  SO 766 is in the BCC as 41x5 mm with usage of 1789-1792 while SO 769 is in as 40x4 mm with usage of  1790-1793.

Below are two examples of the handstamp(s), one from 1790 and the other from 1791.

 

The lower strike (1791) perhaps looks to the naked eye as not as tall or as wide, but it is not as clear or well struck and is missing the serifs on the right-hand side.  When the scans are overlaid on the computer the letters match very well.

Using the computer to measure the clearer (top) scan gives a measurement 40.5 x 4.4 mm, almost exactly the middle of the two measures in the BCC.

I think these are probably the same handstamp (so SO 766 = SO 769).

Here are full scans of the two entires that the handstamps have been taken from.

Entire from Taunton to London with a straight-line "TAUNTON" and London receiving mark for 6th March 1790.

Entire from Taunton to London with a straight-line "TAUNTON" and London receiving mark for 23rd April 1791.

A Receipt [Recipe] for a Winter Salad

As further encouragement that one should always look at the contents of a letter, the item below dated 9th February 1840 from Taunton to Beaconsfield has some interesting contents.

The contents are a "Receipt" or recipe for a Winter Salad in verse:

Conveniently the recipe in verse is also expressed in plain text:

Taunton Parcel Post Labels, 1885-1912

The sheet below displays a number of Taunton Parcel Post Labels (PPLs) of different formats, used from 1885 to 1912 with differences in format (some minor).

Coaching Inn receipt from the Crown Inn, Blandford c.1790

Below is a receipt from the Crown Inn, Blandford from between c.1786 and c.1795.  The receipt indicates that "The Mail Coach Post Stop Here" and "Coach & Diligence every Day".

Setting the Cider Price, 1930

The envelope below has a fairly poor "NORTH PETHERTON / BRIDGWATER" double circle double-arc cancel dated October 1930. 

What makes this item interesting are the contents - a letter from "a Meeting of Brewers and Cider Makers interested in the sale of draught cider throughout the South and West of Somerset" which resolved that the minimum price of 1/6d per gallon should be charged - something that would be illegal today I believe !

Yeovil "J.T.D" perfin, 1903 and "R T/G" perfin 1961

The envelope shown below has a KEVII 1d stamp with a "J.T.D" perfin, sent from Yeovil to Compton Pauncefoot.  The perfin was used by John Trevor Davies, a solicitor in Yeovil.  Perfins were used to prevent theft as the Post Office would not cash a stamp with perfins in (unlike normal stamps which could be exchanged for cash).

Somewhat later, here is another Yeovil perfin, this time a "R T / G" perfin sent within Yeovil in 1961.  The perfin was used by the Road Transport & General insurance company.

Registered Letter to Glastonbury with Banking contents, 1882

The registered envelope below was sent to Glastonbury in 1882.  The contents were a promissary note for £200 and a letter giving the lender a lien on Title Deeds as security.

£200 in 1882 is about £24,600 today, based on the Bank of England's inflation calculator.

Earlier examples of "AXBRIDGE" and "WELLS.S / Penny Post" Handstamps, December 1816

The entire below from Axbridge to Crediton in December 1816 bears earlier examples of the "AXBRIDGE" handstamp, SO 20 (previously known from 1818) and the "WELLS.S / Penny Post" handstamp, SO 935 (previously known from 1817).  The Axbridge handstamp is not crisp and clear like I would expect an early example  to look, but it is definitely an example of SO 20 rather than the earlier and shorter SO 15 "AXBRIDGE (I scanned and overlaid examples of both handstamps to check which matched).

The contents appear to be from a land agent to the owner and include a list of disbursements claimed by one of the tenants.

Bath and Sir Isaac Pitman

Here are a couple of items associated with Sir Isaac Pitman, the first an uprated postal stationery card sent to Bermuda in December 1889, with a printed message on the reverse in phonetic english.

The second item is an envelope from December 1926, by which time Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons were publishers rather than a Phonetic Institute.

Bath 1867 3-Bar Circular Duplex numeral cancel, with Temperance verse on the front

Bath had nineteen different 3-bar Circular Duplex (3CD) numeral cancels.  The example below is of the eleventh, distinguishable by the date and the width of the "B" in "BATH".

The envelope has a temperance verse on the front - one wonders if "Master J Hayward" overindulged at the New Year ?