You've Got Mail

I watched a movie last night in which our modern-day heroine finds herself transported, shag hair cut and all, into Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  The story frequently moves forward with the delivery of a letter.  [Edit: My stationery above- Crane & Co.]

I thought about some of history's famous letters- Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt, Walt Whitman to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the same to Henry David Thoreau.

How fortunate we are to have the perspective left to us by first-person accounts of events through letters.

Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev

Do you write letters?  Do you have a favorite pen or paper?  Paper is classified by its thickness, either pounds per ream (lb.) or grams per square meter (gsm).  An ink-jet or laser printer can generally process paper up to 28 lb., so stationers suggest that personal writing paper be weightier, 32 lb. or more, to distinguish it from common copy paper.

100% cotton paper is more durable and long lasting than paper made of wood pulp, and is the best possible paper for social stationery.  Crane & Co. Stationers has been providing the 100% cotton paper for United States currency since 1776.

Victor Hugo to Adele Foucher

   

Beautiful pens, stamps, letter openers, and a letter rack or antique toast rack, can turn the process of writing and receiving letters (and other mail) into a graceful ritual.  Find this handsome Pewter Letter Openerhere.  

The post office has some very pretty bonsai stamps right now.  I try to stock up when they have a pattern I like.

Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning

This travel writing desk in calfskin and cherry wood is from Pineider, and contains 14 fountain pen nibs of various sizes, a dip pen, a black ink well, a leather notebook, Pineider writing paper, envelopes and water-cut cards.  It is available in 3 leather colors, with or without personalization.

Pens come in such a vast array of sizes, shapes, colors and ink types, that it's often less overwhelming to just use whatever plastic disposable is handy.  Since it isn't an essential purchase, however, why not have fun being on an unhurried hunt for a favorite pen, one that is most "you?"  It took me years to find a pen that I like, writes smoothly, and feels good in my small-ish hand.  Expensive isn't always better, either.  One famous designer buys Skilcraft Alpha Elite gel pens in blue by the dozen at the drugstore. 

You'll narrow your options considerably if you first decide whether you prefer a fountain pen, a rollerball or ball point for your lifestyle and writing style.  Then decide if a fine, medium or broad line looks best with your handwriting, and finally what color ink you like best.  

I tend to look a boringly long time for something I like, then keep it ad infinitum (or, in the case of sunglasses, until I sit on them) so I have just one pen and use one ink, Levenger fountain pen cartridges in Empyrean.  It's a rather sober blue/black color, but it feels warmer to me than pure black, and is still functional for all day, every day writing.

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Images:  1. Jennings & Gates 2.  Mont Blanc "Ingrid Bergman" pen 3.  Crane & Co. 4.  Levenger 5.  Tiffanys 6.  Amazon  7.  Mrs. John L. Strong 8. Pineider 9. Antique Pens 10. Mont Blanc