Esther Milne is Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia.

• List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1: "The Conscious Presence of a Central Intellect": British Postal History 2: "The simple transcripts of natural feeling": Signifiers of Presence in Epistolary Practice 3: "The ghosts of all my impertinent letters": Presence in Crisis 4: "The Self-conscious air of the reproduced": Postcard History 5: "A photo of the ship that I am now on": Signifiers of Presence, Intimacy and Privacy in Postcard Correspondence 6: A Brief History of Electronic Mail 7: "In my sickness": Constructing Presence on the Cybermind Discussion Group Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Esther Milne is Lecturer, Department of Media and Communications, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia.

• List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1: "The Conscious Presence of a Central Intellect": British Postal History 2: "The simple transcripts of natural feeling": Signifiers of Presence in Epistolary Practice 3: "The ghosts of all my impertinent letters": Presence in Crisis 4: "The Self-conscious air of the reproduced": Postcard History 5: "A photo of the ship that I am now on": Signifiers of Presence, Intimacy and Privacy in Postcard Correspondence 6: A Brief History of Electronic Mail 7: "In my sickness": Constructing Presence on the Cybermind Discussion Group Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index