Skip to content
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence
To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence

To the Letter: A Curious History of Correspondence

by Canongate
$22.50 - $22.50
$22.50
$22.50 - $22.50
$22.50

Simon Garfield
Paperback, 464 pages
9780857868619

 

Every letter contains a miniature story, and here are some of the greatest. From Oscar Wilde's unconventional method of using the mail to cycling enthusiast Reginald Bray's quest to post himself, Simon Garfield uncovers a host of stories that capture the enchantment of this irreplaceable art (with a supporting cast including Pliny the Younger, Ted Hughes, Virginia Woolf, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, David Foster Wallace and the Little Red-Haired Girl). There is also a brief history of the letter-writing guide, with instructions on when and when not to send fish as a wedding gift. And as these accounts unfold, so does the tale of a compelling wartime correspondence that shows how the simplest of letters can change the course of a life.