The Envelope’s Evolution

Envelopes are commonly used for packing formal letters for communication between organizations. While letterheads are an important aspect of an organization’s stationery, envelope printing is often overlooked. Personal information, business correspondence, and marketing materials are all regularly mailed in envelopes..  

Envelopes in Egypt are considered important, like any other country in the world. They are as significant as the message they contain. They tell your audience who you are and express your personality, whether it is an individual’s personality or the personality of a business. Envelopes distinguish your brand and message from the mass. There is a widespread belief that envelopes are only used to transport contents and are not worth investing in.

Despite having a lot of importance, a modest envelope is often overlooked. This common piece of stationery, designed to safeguard communication from harm and prying eyes, may deliver both good and terrible news. Considering the usage, many companies today have set a benchmark of meeting the standard of producing the finest envelope for different purposes. Gazelle Envelope is one such company that believes in evolution and has been trying to meet its customers’ expectations.

But have you ever thought about when and where this remarkable piece of stationery was first seen?

Envelopes in the Early Days

Historians think the first envelope appeared in ancient China, where it was employed to ensure the privacy of royal letters. These early examples, however, were nothing like what we use today.

They were constructed of clay that had been formed into a spherical in which the message would be placed. When the envelope was delivered, it was sealed with extra clay and then crushed to disclose the contents.

A comparable type of secret communication was invented some 2,000 years before Christ’s birth in Babylonia. This variant resembled a folder rather than a spherical container, and it was sealed by pushing the two ends of a rectangular clay sheet together.

The initial paper envelope appears

Chinese inventors created the first paper envelope in 200 BC. However, these straightforward protective wrappings were employed to transmit financial presents rather than words.

Around the same period, affluent Japanese men sent presents to surviving family members using early versions. At the time, it was thought that the Chinese and Japanese copies were both created fairly shabbily by hand.

Production methods didn’t get to the point where a paper envelope could be used for communication until the Medieval Ages. But even then, the design hardly went beyond the second piece of paper folded over the letter and wax-sealed.

Such correspondence between the nobility and top Church members was rather common. Beeswax and resin were used to create the seal, which was then sealed with a coat of arms and occasionally a ring.

The Industrial Revolution permanently altered the envelope

Sam Adams penned one of the earliest long-distance letters ever sent in a contemporary envelope in 1775. He only sent one letter from Boston to Philadelphia, and the cost was 22 cents.

The price of envelopes and the cost of sending mail decreased as printing and manufacturing techniques advanced. Sir Rowland Hill initially suggested the idea of the stamp in his 1837 publication, Post Office Reform.

He suggested that mail be sent throughout the UK using a pre-paid penny “wrapper” with a stamp. Initially, it was up to neighborhood printing and manufacturing companies to manually fold the paper into the traditional form of a contemporary envelope.

However, until Edwin Hill created and patented a steam-powered machine that could fold and adhere paper into the shape of an envelope, the process of manufacturing an envelope was very arduous.

Following this, Russel Hawes of America created the first automated envelope maker in 1853. This device, which could create up to 12,500 envelopes every day at the time, was a revelation.

James Green Arnold created a machine in 1876 that Henry Swift and D Wheeler Swift improved. This was the first machine in history that could attach sticky gum to an envelope.

Americus Callahan, who created the first envelope with a window, also received the final important envelope patent.

Despite the development of the Internet, the globe still produces and sends billions of envelopes annually. These necessary pieces of stationery are still integral to contemporary life, whether used to safeguard private notes, business communication, or marketing materials.

Thus, envelopes in Egypt hold a special place in the stationery section because nothing can take the place of a conventional mailing system. Therefore, Gazelle Envelope makes a lot of effort in designing different envelopes to cater to the needs of its customers.