bill

Congrats on Explore! ⭐ January 15, 2024

A superb picture. Congratulation on Explore

Gutes Bild.

Congrats on Xplore!!

Great Memory ! Wonderful Share 👍

Why so blue?

Smithsonian here. Here's a little more about cyanotypes. You can find more descriptions of phtoographic media in our search- photography.si.edu Cyanotype Sir John Herschel invented the process for printing a cyanotype—more commonly known as a blueprint—in 1842. Creating a cyanotype involved developing prepared paper with an iron-salt solution. After treating the paper with ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferriyanide, a photographer would place a negative, or even a drawing, on top of it in direct sunlight, causing the exposed parts of the paper to turn bright blue from the effects of the iron. Subsequently submerging the print in water caused the image to become fixed and the unexposed chemicals to wash away, and the iron’s oxidation caused the blue image to intensify. Engineers and architects favored this process for copying drawings because it was stable, efficient, and inexpensive. Thomas Smillie, the Smithsonian’s first photographer, employed this printing method to keep track of his glass-plate negatives. He made and cataloged cyanotypes of each image, after which he stored the corresponding glass-plate negative.

S. P. Langley (who signed this check) was the 3rd Secretary of the Smithsonian (1887-1906) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley

Interesting.
"1881: Universal Postal Union agreement
The international parcel service, which allowed the orderly shipment of mailed packages and parcels from one country to another according to predetermined rates, was established by the Universal Postal Union on 1 October 1881 (Great Britain, India, The Netherlands and Persia, 1 April 1882), following the agreement of 1880 in Paris during a three-week conference on the subject. ..."
From - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parcel_post#1881:_Universal_Postal_...

First press mention of J Hinshelwood of Miller St, Glasgow, I could find, as an agent for the Crimean Army Parcels Agency. Glasgow Herald - Friday 27 April 1855

Architecture of Dublin They were in 5 Eden Quay before that. I wonder was it expansion that moved them along to no. 8 by 1883?

Spotted at No. 8 - see megazoom - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000337978
Someone might find a better one. Several railway company offices nearby.