The 1850 Penny Red was the first stamp to be perforated during trial course of Archer's perforating machine. The first machine specifically designed to perforate sheets of postage stamps was invented in London by Henry Archer, an Irish landowner and railroad man from Dublin, Ireland. The United Kingdom was the first country to issue postage stamps with perforations. By 1850, methods such as rouletting wheels were being devised in efforts of making stamp separation more convenient, and less time consuming. Mechanically separating stamps from a sheet proved an inconvenience for postal clerks and businesses, both dealing with large numbers of individual stamps on a daily basis. This is evidenced by the ragged edges of surviving examples. If cutting tools were not used, individual stamps were torn off. Scissors or other cutting mechanisms were required to separate a desired number of stamps from a full sheet. In the first decade of postage stamps' existence (depending on the country), stamps were issued without perforations. The resulting frame-like, rippled edge surrounding the separated stamp defines a characteristic meme for the appearance of a postage stamp. 'Perforations are small holes made between individual postage stamps on a sheet of stamps, facilitating separation of a desired number of stamps. Archer £4,000 for his machine and its patent. Stamps from Henry Archer's perforation trials were issued during the last few months of 1850, during the 1851 Parliamentary session at the House of Commons, and finally in 1853/4 after the government paid Mr. The first officially perforated stamps were issued in February 1854. Perforation of postage stamps was to begin in January 1854.

Bacon (postage stamp engraver and printer of the firm Bacon and Petch). > The Committee, which sat from 23 March to, took evidence by verbal examination from all the key players in the field, including Henry Archer (inventor and patentee of the perforating machine), Edwin Hill (inventor and patentee of a machine for folding envelopes), Rowland Hill (the inventor of the penny postage stamp), and J.B. This was the ground-breaking report drawn up the Select Committee appointed to inquire and report upon the present mode of engraving, printing, and gumming the postage label stamps, and likewise whether and how the perforating machine invented by the patentee could be applied to the same with advantage to the public, to whom a petition of Charles Maybury Archer was referred.

Large 8vo., xiv + 260pp., with a few old emphasis marks and annotations in pencil, the paper generally lightly browned, rebound recently in boards with the original printed wrappers laid down.

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