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October 15, 2007
Etiquette 101: Letter-Writing
Last week we were hunting around an old warehouse in Queens and stumbled upon a gem: an etiquette book titled 100 Points in Etiquette and 101 Don'ts, published in 1929 by Grosset & Dunlap. Lucky for us there is an entire section on letter-writing (in addition to instruction on dinner, wedding, luncheon, golf, and bridge etiquette).
The authors write, "For letter writing to friends, simple good paper is in the best of taste. It may have a monogram or not, as you wish, or it may have the address either across the top or in the right hand corner. It should be white or cream in color, or very delicately tinted. Correspondence is divided into three classes: social, business, and personal.
...Remember that everything put on paper may live for years, so be careful what you write, and do not do so impulsively. Never put anything on paper which would cause discredit or mortification even if read in public."
This made us laugh, but on second thought, perhaps that criticism was too harsh. Is this letter-writing etiquette really obsolete? Do letters still fall into these three distinct categories? What is the difference between letter-writing and email etiquette? We'd love to hear what you think! [more thoughts from us on this topic later]
p.s. See some more modern notes on letter-writing etiquette here.
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