There is little collected information on the subject of His Majesty's collections, so I will endeavour to outline a few of the salient points in those sections which have been most nearly completed.
_Great Britain._--The collection contains the original sketch of W. Mulready, R.A., for the famous envelopes and letter sheets of 1840 to which reference has been made.[22]
A note accompanies it to the effect that, "From statements made by Mr. Mulready to his friends, it would appear that the original idea for the design was given to him by Queen Victoria and was carried out by the artist in accordance with Her Majesty's suggestions."
On this point of the origin of the design, Sir Rowland Hill's journal contains an entry which scarcely bears out the legend that the Queen devised the idea together with the Prince Consort. The entry, under April 3, 1840, is: "Mr. B[aring] has sent a proof impression of the cover stamp to the Queen, with a memorandum from Mulready and Thompson [the engraver] explanatory of the design."
Then there is the historic pair of sketches in water-colours, roughly executed by Sir Rowland Hill to show the approximate appearance of the penny stamp in black and the twopence stamp in blue. This was sent by Hill to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[Illustration: DESIGN FOR THE KING EDWARD ONE PENNY STAMP APPROVED AND INITIALLED BY HIS LATE MAJESTY.
(_From the collection of H.M. King George V._)]
In the line-engraved series, His Majesty has shown two copies of the 1d. V.R., and a fine series of imperforates of the 1d. red, Die I. and Die II., in a large range of shades; 1d. red with letters in all four corners (plates 132 and 225); 1d. red, in a pair, on Dickinson paper; ½d. rose-red (plate 9), 2d. blue with four letters (including plate 7), 1½d., plate 1 in bluish lake and plate 3 in brick-red.
[Illustration: THE COMPANION DESIGN TO THAT ON PAGE 313, AND SHOWING THE CORRECT POSE OF THE HEAD, BUT IN A DIFFERENT FRAME, WHICH WAS NOT ADOPTED.
(_From the collection of H.M. the King._)]
All the Victorian surface-printed series are shown imperforate, including the 3d. with reticulated background; 3d., plate 3 ("dot"); 4d. in lake, watermarked "small garter"; 6d., plate 1 on safety paper and plate 3 with hair-lines; 9d., plate 3 with hair-lines and plate 5; 10d., plate 2; 1s., plate 1 on safety paper, plate 3 with hair-lines, 4 in an unissued colour, lilac; 2s., plate 3; 10s., £1, and £5 on blue paper.