Liz Williams - Kind Regards: The Lost Art of Letter-Writing

Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls; for, thus friends absent speak.

John Donne

Dear reader,

What is a letter? The dictionary says this:

Letter (noun) a written or printed communication directed to a person or organization, usually sent by post in an envelope.

But a letter is more, so much more. We have been writing letters to one another since around the fourth millennium BC and, while email and the telephone may make letter-writing less essential than before, I firmly believe we will continue to put pen to paper for the foreseeable future.

Letters provide a form of time travelling they bridge the years in ink. I felt a sense of awe at reading the thoughts of those who experienced the pivotal moments in history the fall of Rome, the start of a small cult called Christianity, the eve of the Second World War, the threat of the Cold War.

They also give an insight into the everyday life, emotions, hopes, dreams, expectations, loves and disappointments of our forebears. They show that we have more in common with our distant ancestors than we might imagine.

How can you not love letters? I have boxes of old letters and every so often I take them out, unfold them and re-read them. They remind me of the person I once was; the loves and losses I have suffered over the years; my own personal history captured in ink.

Researching this book was at times a very emotional experience. I knew many of the great letter-writers, but others came as delectable surprises. Tender love letters stole my heart. The tragic last letters from people facing death brought a lump to my throat. The correspondence between parents of sick or dying children made the mother in me weep.

Psychotherapists believe that writing letters honestly and from the heart acts as a powerful form of self-therapy; that it can bring clarity and a means of expressing emotions. Can you do that with an email? Perhaps. But somehow the act of putting pen to paper gives a further depth and meaning to the words.

In this book I didnt just want to reproduce great letters I wanted to investigate the whole subject of letter-writing: the materials that have been used over the millennia; the history of letter-writing and of the post; the curious and inventive forms of the letter that have emerged over the years. I also wanted to remind the reader how to construct letters for all occasions, with advice on how to set out both formal and informal letters.

And so I fell in love with letters all over again. As the Reverend T. Cooke asserts in The Universal Letter Writer, Letters are the trade of life the fuel of love the pleasure of friendship the food of the politician and the entertainment of the curious. To speak to those we love or esteem, is the greatest satisfaction we are capable of knowing; and the next is, being able to converse with them by letter.

I hope you gain as much pleasure from reading this book as I did in writing it. And, please, lets all do our bit to keep the gentle art of letter-writing alive.

Yours truly,

Liz Williams

A letter is a written or printed communication directed to a person or organization, usually sent by post in an envelope. The modern English word letter comes from the Old French lettre that, in turn, derives from the Latin littera, meaning letter of the alphabet. Littera could also mean writing, a document or record, and in its plural form litterae, an epistle. The first recorded usage of this sense is in the early thirteenth century.

The word missive derives from the medieval Latin missivus, which comes from the verb mittere to send.

Definitions

Epistle (noun) a letter, especially a formal one. A literary composition in the form of a letter.

Epistolographic (adjective) pertaining to the writing of letters; used in writing letters; epistolary. Epistolographic character of writing.

Writing letters most likely began when ancient cultures expanded their political and economic stretch. They would have needed reliable means for transmitting information, maintaining financial accounts, keeping historical records, and so forth. What seems certain is that around 4,000 BC trade and administration started becoming simply too complex to rely solely on the power of memory. So writing became a more dependable method of recording, sending and presenting transactions in a permanent form.

In both Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt writing may have evolved through calendrics: historical and environmental events that needed to be recorded.

What letters are called around the world

With the advent of instant messaging and a continual rise in postal costs, the handwritten letter can often seem both primitive and expensive. Yet the coldness of the keyboard can little compare to the warmth and familiarity of receiving a physical letter. Whether well written or not, the letter offers a human connection, as these great writers testify.

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. PHYLLIS THEROUX

Letter-writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. LORD BYRON

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.