It is bizarre and beautiful to me that I have multiple shoeboxes full of hand-written letters from my college days — check-ins and postcards and playlists and inside jokes and flirtations and stick figure drawings and magazine clippings and reports from abroad and kitschy stickers and photos of parties and crushes and too many bare midriffs. I write letters so much less frequently now. What was it about that time that invited such frequent epistolarity? After all, email existed, as did AIM. I think it was the romance of it, the implied intimacy, the grown-up-ness. (I have handwritten letters in my own college mailbox!)
I wrote to my parents, too, during that time, even though we talked and emailed frequently. I have a couple of letters written on hotel letterhead from my travels abroad that my father marked in the upper right hand corner in thick black fountain ink: ELAINE – PLS RETURN. And I can just imagine the way he’d placed my epistles on her desk, on top of her closed laptop, but wanted them back for safekeeping in the straining accordion folders he kept for each of his children.
Letters are an act of love. They require physical exertion, mental planning or at least agility, and a trip to the post box. They cost postage and time. I wrote elsewhere that they are akin to “letting feelings dry on paper.” I have a couple of friends and family members with whom I email regularly and thoughtfully, but would love to get back into the habit of exchanging paper letters, as it dawned on me the other day that the only hand-written dispatches I’ve drafted over the past many months have been condolences and thank yous.
One thing that helps with getting back into the mode: beautiful paper products. And I am newly flush with it. I had the most spectacular and generous opportunity to design a custom set of stationery and enclosure cards with the gorgeous paper company Dear Elouise. These pieces are the truest reflection of my aesthetic preferences. Can you even deal with the gorgeous scalloped trim? The exquisite liner? The vintage-feeling letterpressed script?! I audibly swooned when I opened the box. I’ve had them sitting out in a tidy stack on the small table in my office since opening, as just seeing them adds a little elegance to my day. This is the personal stationery that belongs in the office of someone like Deeda Blair, with chinoiserie panels and everything upholstered in Schumacher and elegant vintage furniture and maybe one of those old-fashioned phones I imagine Lauren Bacall speaking on all the time. I lay claim to none of those possessions or attributes — but now I have the stationery, so a girl can dream. I am swooning.
A few other gorgeous paper and desktop products to consider:
CARAN D’ACHE PEN — MR. MAGPIE GAVE ME THIS AND I FEEL LIKE I NEED IT WHEN SIGNING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
FLORAL PEN CUP DESIGNED BY MY DEAR FRIEND INSLEE
DESKTOP ORGANIZER — LOVE ALL THE COMPARTMENTS
APPOINTED NOTEBOOKS AND PLANNERS (15% OFF WITH MAGPIEBYJENSHOOP)
“SMALL THINGS” STORAGE BOX — PERFECT FOR STOWING PAPER CLIPS, PENS, PUSH PINS, RUBBER BANDS, STAMPS, ETC…
LUCRIN LEATHER LETTER HOLDER OR TOILE LETTER HOLDER
MH STUDIOS PERSONALIZED NOTEBOOK
P.S. Cute stationery for children and my favorite home organization products.
P.P.S. On pursuing English as a discipline.
P.P.P.S. What I strive to do every day: shake hands with a blank page.
Hello from a fellow handwritten letter obsessive! I tend to stick with my simple First name- middle name- last name block print correspondence cards, but these are some beautiful options here. One addition I’ll make is to not overlook the stamps! USPS is always coming out with so many gorgeous stamps and I love browsing their website every time I need to stock up. I just got some very fun Tomie dePaola ones featuring art from a favorite childhood book, Strega Nona! She of the bottomless pasta pot.
OMG I love the Strega Nona! The incantation pops into my mind all the time “Bubble, bubble pasta pot…” Will check my USPS next time I’m there!
xx
You’ve inspired me to do a little more letter writing and invest in some of these beautiful cards! I tend to send cards to a group of close friends on their birthdays, but little writing is involved and I feel sad that these days when I write I notice my handwriting is just not what it used to be. When I think of letter writing I always think of my dad, he has gorgeous penmanship and beautiful fountain pens he meticulously takes care of and loves writing letters, cards, drawing little graphs (he’s a scientist), etc. He often will also mail himself or us letters when we’re in a place where he wants the postage marker – hah! After high school on a trip to Europe he sent himself a little card with the Vatican City marker, and back in elementary school on a particularly special trip up to the Berkshires he sent me a postcard that I still have with the postage marker of the little town post office in Stockbridge Mass.
I love this!! Such a sweet tradition with your dad, and what great treasures to keep and have on hand! I’m imagining you could frame some of them!
xx
These are so beautiful! I am a relatively new reader (found your blog from a post on The Stripe), and I truly look forward to new posts and have been enjoying going back through the archive. As I read more and especially after today’s post, I had to share this subscription with you, in case it’s of interest – “Created by a doctor of literature obsessed with mail, Poetry by Post offers a material and meaningful encounter with poetry through the romance of the letter.” https://www.poetryxpost.com
WAIT! This business is amazing! I am so tickled by this. I think I’m going to buy a subscription. Thank you for sharing!
And, thank you so much for the wonderful notes. Glad and lucky to have you here!
xx