Don't you miss a letter dropping on to the door mat with a handwritten envelope. Do you think that emails will be saved for posterity? No, neither do I.
The word that is heard perishes, but the letter that is written, remains (Proverb)
As a young girl I loved writing letters - I had a pen pal in South Africa and wrote to a soldier serving in Cyprus. I used to write page after page - heaven knows what I found to write about. Then there were love letters - lots of love letters. One boyfriend and I wrote to each other every day, even though we saw each other every day. The outpourings of a young couple madly in love - well, for a few weeks anyway.
I practised my handwriting a lot in those days, as being left-handed I tended to write sloping backwards - which my teachers hated. Practice, practice until I managed to write upright letters and overcame the left-handed illegible writing.
My father was a beautiful handwriter. I have some letters that he wrote to my Mum when they were courting - copperplate - I think you would call it.
Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company (Lord Byron)
He used to do a thing with his hand before starting to write, a sort of releasing of energy so that his writing flowed freely.
I think it helped to write with a proper pen and ink - you couldn't really get the same flow with a biro.
In an age like ours, which is not given to letter writing, we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives. (Anatole Broyard)
Letters certainly played an important role in people's lives when the Royal Mail was quick and efficient and there was more than one delivery. But the computerised age has done away with all that and the only time we actually use handwriting is perhaps on greetings cards - we have become used to writing in the short form - no more long ramblings about our daily doings.
I have kept a lot of letters from friends and family - friends I no longer see, family I no longer have. They are precious and each letter holds a piece of history in its pages. A letter from my father to me when I was on a school trip in Scotland evokes such memories of my childhood, that if I did not have it, would only be a hazy remembrance held in my mind.
We lay aside letters never to read them again and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others (Goethe)
A couple of years ago, before I had a computer, an uncle and I used to correspond regularly by letter, now it is by email,- but it isn't quite the same.
He used to do a thing with his hand before starting to write, a sort of releasing of energy so that his writing flowed freely. 
I still write letters to quite a lot of people including my almost 92 year old aunt. I have many letters that my mother wrote as we corresponded weekly for nearly 30 years until her dementia became too bad. Luckily one of my DILs is also a letter writer and although it isn't a regular correspondence I do have a good many letters from her. E-mails just aren't the same, more like official correspondence than a personal communication.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling you would be a letter writer Rowan - I was watching the film Rebecca the other day and the new Mrs de Winter was shown into the library where Rebecca always wrote her letters in the morning. In our house we always knew it was Tuesday evening as my Mum always sat down with a sigh and started her weekly letter writing
DeleteThat`s very clever using Pinterest images for the post which I agree with, I still have a collection of fountain pens with nibs with blue black and brown ink for writing greetings cards and notes and am left handed too but get cramp now with long letters. My wife and I still have our letters written to each other in ink back in 1962 when I was in Austria working and we had first met
ReplyDeleteI still have one or two fountain pens but sadly rarely use them now - when I was learning shorthand we had to use a special shorthand pen with a very flexible nib for thin and thick strokes. I wonder if you would recognise yourself now in those letters you wrote when you were a young whipper-snapper.
DeleteI agree with everything you've written in this post. I used to adore writing letters and receiving them. I have a set of letters written to my Great-Grandmother at the end of the 19th Century. They were written by the first man she was engaged to. Eventually she broke off the engagement - but she kept the letters and the ring! Nobody is going to be able to read our e-mails and texts in 100 years time. Jx
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to have family letters that are so old - when I was delving into my family history my uncle sent me a photocopy of a letter than my great grandfather sent to my grandma - he was practically illiterate but just reading his letter brought him alive for me. Letters are a great legacy to hold on to.
DeleteI was really inspired by your recent post so I've just popped some pictures of these letters on my blog. Jx
DeleteExcellent - I have just been over to read it - a touching story.
DeleteI was always writing letters when I was a child, I used to love to write them and then receive letters back in the post. Emails just aren't the same.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree Jo - maybe we should start a letter-writing revolution - trouble is, it costs so much to send a letter these days.
DeleteI totally agree with you, Elaine. I think about this vanishing art quite often. As a lover of fine stationery, etc., as well as the special charm that goes along with sending something hand written, I'm not willing to let go of letter writing and card sending. Just last night, I was in Barnes & Noble looking through the beautiful cards and stationery. I enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteIt is little wonder that the Royal Mail in England is suffering now that everything is computerised - all we seem to get through the letterbox these days are bills and junk mail.
DeleteWhat a lovely post. I enjoy receiving letters and still correspond with an old friend who writes often even though it is a stuggle for her to grip her pen. She loves to write letters to and keep in touch with the many people she has met over the years. It is one of her favourite pass times. I enjoy writing back to her though do type the letters in large print so she can read them as her eyesight is poor now. I'm afraid that everyone else is contacted by e-mail - just not the same but quick and instant. I have a box full of letters I have received over the years from school friends and etc until quite recently. Twice I have nearly shredded them but somehow can't bring myself to do it yet:)
ReplyDeleteI only wish I had kept more than I have - I love reading through them as they spark memories that I had forgotten all about. I have kept all the postcards I have received as well - people don't seem to send them any more either.
DeleteA lovely post which I really enjoyed as I've always written letters, although nowadays they're few and far between. They're not something I've ever kept but can certainly see the appeal in doing so.
ReplyDeleteA couple of postcards and a few cards is about all I now send, or receive, and sadly my fountain pen languishes virtually unused. Flighty xx
I think the first letter I ever wrote had to be to Father Christmas and then there were the dreaded 'thank you' letters for Christmas presents - but I expect there will be a generation of children who will never write hand-written letters, and because of texting etc. they will eventually never learn to write at all. A sad thought.
DeleteYes I agree too,I had penfriends and wrote masses like you.I have two boxes of letters that date back to the 60s and one day I will read them again.I love the internet but it is so inorganic and the feel of writing with a fountain pen is sensual oo er!
ReplyDeleteCalm down dear - don't want you getting over excited. It is nice to be able to reply so quickly by email - if not, you wouldn't have got this message for a couple of days. I do agree that there is nothing better than writing by hand on lovely stationery - ah those were the days.
DeleteMy mother and her brother had a 40 year correspondence, and even spanned half the world... She still has the letters. I would love to read them one day.
ReplyDeleteI am sure they would make fascinating reading - and you may find out things about your mother and uncle that you never knew.
DeleteI am also a big believer that letter writing is important. Thanks for writing about it. Also, the images you've posted are beautiful. I keep scrolling up and down your post, looking at them over and over again.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn't realise when I wrote the post is that there is a whole world of letter-writing blogs out there - lots of people who met over the internet communicating by 'snail-mail'. Glad you like the images I found
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