First, I suppose, come letters; then adventure.
— Robert Louis Stevenson
| Writing between the Lines | |
Here's handy links to the web sites Tamra Orr mentions in her column about low-cost stationery on page 6:
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| Ascendant Peace | |
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If the Chinese letter (article on page 9) is of interest, there are lots more in the book Chinese Letter Writing for Missionaries. |
| Long before word processors | |
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The early typewriters shown on pages 14 through 17 aren't easily found these days (and probably not easily afforded if they can be found), but you can still get vintage typewriters of a slightly later date at The Vintage Typewriter Shoppe. Or, to just marvel at how very different early designs were, check out Typewriter Memory Lane or the links at The Collectors Weekly. |
| Bright Star | |
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In addition to helping inspire the movie Bright Star mentioned on page 15, the letters of John Keats to Fanny Brawne are also available in book form, and online. Although she also wrote to him, he requested that her letters be destroyed when he died, and they apparently were, although letters that she wrote to Keats' sister Fanny Keats are available. There are many discussions of the romance; here's a detailed one. |
| Letters from the Prez | |
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The letters in this issue's The World of Letters (page 20) come from several books: The Writings of George Washington, The Friendly Craft (the Thomas Jefferson letter), and Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to his Children. The last one in particular has a number of interesting and often humorous letters. The links above are to scanned versions at Google Books; the Washington and Roosevelt books are also available at Powell's, as is The Friendly Craft, modeled on the British The Gentlest Art, but with a generally more serious and political tone to the selection of letters. |
| Yours Ever | |
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Thomas Mallon, whose book Yours Ever: People and Their Letters is featured on page 28, has also written an anthology of historical diary entries as well as novels and other books about writing. |
| Marjorie or Marjory? | |
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As Mark Twain noted, the letters, poems, and especially the journals of Marjory Fleming are a mixture of homilies dutifully copied from the teachings of her older cousin and Marjory's own observations on life, sometimes quite astonishing considering she began writing at the age of 6 and died before she was 9. The version we mention on page 29, which preserves her pagination and edits, is The Complete Marjory Fleming; there's also a rare version scanned from the originals in Marjory's handwriting. Her early biographer and others who followed his lead claimed she was called "Pet Marjorie", but later editors disputed both the "ie" spelling and the nickname, as well as the claim that she was a favorite of Sir Walter Scott (who does seem to have been acquainted with her family and distantly related). Her original writings are now preserved in the National Library of Scotland. |
| A Letter is Better | |
| In the LEX blog for November we mentioned postal carrier Kevin Blackford, who gives talks entitled "A Letter is Better" and encourages school children to write letters. As mentioned on page 29, Mr. Blackford will be presenting at the National PTA Convention in Memphis in June. | |
| Clicking on most of the books on this page will take you to Powell's, the world's largest independent bookstore. You can also use the search engine to the left. Any purchase you make by following one of these links will help support LEX – not just these items but any book or DVD in their inventory. | |
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