Quotabelle - Signed & Sealed: Greetings, Goodbyes, and Fine Lines from Historys Remarkable Letter Writers

quoteur / KW TR A person who originates a collection of words worth sharing

W ritten between the lines of letters are stories we dont often see.

Composed for a particular someone, these communications give us glimpses of the powerful, intimate, serendipitous, complicated, endearing, and wonderful relationships we forge with one another as humans.

Each piece of correspondence that is discovered is a testament to how our stories intersect, a fascinating link in our immense web of connections.

We have found some good ones to share Love letters and resignation letters. Appeals and pitches. Birthday greetings and holiday wishes. Sympathy notes and fond farewells. Congrats and counsel. Editorials and invitations. Poignant messages to lovers and loved ones, plus plenty of less predictable points of contact.

The letters in this collection range in date, from 4,000 years ago to today, and were issued in a wide variety of media from addresses around the world. But our main criterion for selection remained the same throughout: exchanges that moved us, that solicited spontaneous awws or laughter, that made our jaws drop.

We zoomed in on captivating, memorable words, then we panned out to examine the intriguing lives behind the lines. Some of the statements may be simple, but the stories are simply unforgettable.

Correspondence unsealed.

At Quotabelle, its our mission to add womens voices back into history and ensure todays leading lights dont go unseen. Combing through letters is a great way of doing that.

Over the past five years, as weve dug into archives, sites, and books to research female trailblazers, weve found personal correspondence to be a rich source of quotations.

For those women from the past who could write, letters are often the primary or only access we have to their voices, especially since many of them had limited opportunities to engage in public and published forms of writing.

The choices we made for this collection, including some letters by men, were in part because they allowed us to illuminate the biographies of remarkable women, including partners, relations, patrons, muses, mentors, and others whose roles in historical achievements have long been overlooked.

Exploring their letters also piqued our interest in the expanded universe of correspondence. Inside, youll find nods to the many ways weve found to keep in touchfrom ink & quill to secret codeas well as to postal milestones, from the USs first sanctioned airmail delivery to the short-lived system of Victory Mail.

Most letter writers never intended for their thoughts to be made public. Many guarded their privacy by burning a lifetimes worth of missives.

We also found letters intentionally destined for viewing. For posterity. For profit. For purposely championingor challengingan individual, issue, or idea.

Contemporary exchanges were far more difficult to unearth, as theyre typically not made public until after the writer, and often the recipient, are goneif at all.

This is a reminder of how letters have become a peculiar form of social artifact. Theyre also increasingly rare. There are plenty of examples throughout history of media rendered obsolete tablets, papyri, and telegrams, to name a few. Our hope: letters dont become a thing of the past.

One line at a time.

We, too, love to pore over long letters and wade through compilations.

For this book though, weve homed in on brief snippets that speak to the craft of letter-writing.

In the arts, people cherish a stand-alone lyric, stanza, movie line, play finale, or book quote. In fine dining, the amuse-bouche or a tasting menu can tease what might be surprising or grand. The same holds true for lines from correspondence.

We love how a single line can express something profound or nuanced about an individual or relationshipa personality, style, purpose, or rapport.

Openings and closings are important, but long-held protocols and the dictates of etiquette have turned them into some of the most rote and unvarying elements of our messages to one another. As we found ourselves knee-deep in correspondence, we came to relish unexpected variations to the polite form letteruncommon salutations and signoffs, but also memorable first lines, wrap-ups, and postscripts.

From the direct and plainspoken to the fantastically flamboyant and indecorous, we hope youll find approaches to inspire your own signatures and catchphrases.

Perhaps this epistolary romp might even kindle your desire to take up the pen, type out a note, or style a card. Once it does, take liberties as you write yourself in and out. Abandon conventions. Cast aside formalities. Find your own flair as you rethink how you begin and end a missive playful, provocative, self-revealing, kind.

Above all

Send more mail. See what happens.

OFF WE GO