Letters of Note: Volume 2: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience

By Shaun Usher

The companion volume to the New York Times bestseller Letters of Note—includes missives from Abraham Lincoln, David Bowie, Marge Simpson, and others.

Each turn of the page brings delight and discovery in this collection of 125 captivating letters that spans centuries and place, written by the famous, the not-so-famous, and the downright infamous. Entries are accompanied by a transcript of the letter, a short contextual introduction, and a spirited illustration—in most cases, a facsimile of the letter itself. As surprising as it is entertaining, Letters of Note: Volume 2 is an ebook of endless enjoyment and lasting value.

“Offers newcomers and fans of the series another outstanding compendium of correspondence from celebrities, U.S. presidents, and ordinary citizens . . . This fantastic collection of over 125 letters is endlessly entertaining.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Take a break from email and text messaging and dive into this impressive collection of letters instead. History lovers and bibliophiles alike will relish poring through 125 letters written by authors, scientists, celebrities, and ordinary people.” —Real Simple (Holiday Gift Guide Pick)

“Wise, funny and poignant letters from around the world and throughout the ages.” —The Advocate

“The books in this series . . . are some of the most approachable ways to learn about history and culture, and really pull at your emotions, lifting your spirits, making you laugh, or creating a somber tone.” —GeekDad

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781452159034

Book preview

THE LETTERS

Letter No. 001

TORTURING THE SAXOPHONE

ROBERT CRUMB to MATS GUSTAFSSON

2014

In 2014, celebrated Swedish free-jazz saxophonist Mats Gustafsson sent a copy of his forthcoming album to one of his idols, the legendary comic book artist, record collector, and musician Robert Crumb. Gustafsson’s upcoming record was a compilation of his experimental interpretations of jazz classics by greats such as Duke Ellington, Lars Gullin, and the Ayler brothers, and he sought Crumb’s opinion. In honor of Crumb’s response, Gustafsson named his next album Torturing the Saxophone and proudly reprinted this letter in the liner notes.

Gustafsson:

I finally gave a listen to those LPs and the CD you sent me, of your own saxophone playing and some Swedish modern jazz. I gotta tell you, on the cover of the CD of your sax playing, which is black and has no text on it, I wrote in large block letters, in silver ink, Torturing the Saxophone—Mats Gustafsson. I just totally fail to find anything enjoyable about this, or to see what this has to do with music as I understand it, or what in God’s name is going on in your head that you want to make such noises on a musical instrument. Quite frankly, I was kind of shocked at what a negative, unpleasant experience it was, listening to it. I had to take it off long before it reached the end. I just don’t get it. I don’t understand what it is about.

You actually go on TOUR with that stuff. WOW. People actually . . . sit . . . and . . . LISTEN . . . to that. I mean, they voluntarily go to the place, maybe even PAY . . . PAY to hear that stuff. And then they sit there, quietly, politely . . . and LISTEN. Unbelievable. I should go myself sometime and see this. Witness it with my own eyes.

I don’t say these things with the intention to insult you. You seem to be a perfectly nice, civilized guy with a good sense of humor. I am speaking the plain truth of my reaction to the records and CD you sent. That this noise could give anyone any aesthetic pleasure is beyond my comprehension, truly. Is this the logical end of improvisational music? Is this where it ends up? Where does it go from this point? Is there any audience for this free jazz besides other guys who play it and maybe their wives who must patiently endure it?

I just don’t get it. Am I too un-hip? Am I a square from Delaware? A hick from Battle Crick? A shmuck from Keokuck?

—R. Crumb

Cartoonist Robert Crumb, 1985

Letter No. 002

FOR LOVE AND HONOR

HOLLIS FRAMPTON to MOMA

January 7, 1973

In December 1972, Donald Richie, then film curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, wrote to avant-garde filmmaker and photographer Hollis Frampton and suggested that they organize a retrospective of his work at this most prestigious museum. To an artist of any standing, this would be a tempting offer. However, Frampton took issue with one line in the proposal, a particular that rendered Richie’s suggestion entirely unattractive: It is all for love and honor and no money is included at all. . . . Frampton responded at length with a rousing letter that has since become revered in the art world. It’s fair to assume that a fee was later agreed on. MoMA’s Hollis Frampton retrospective ran from March 8 to 12, 1973.

Equipment for synchronizing audio and image in film post-production

Letter No. 003

DEAR ONE

RACHEL CARSON to DOROTHY FREEMAN

September 10, 1963

Published in 1962, Silent Spring was a pioneering book that alerted the public to the devastating harm being wrought by fertilizers and pesticides, an exposé that many believe triggered the modern environmental movement. In 1960, as she worked on the book, its author, marine biologist Rachel Carson, was diagnosed with the cancer that would eventually take her life. Seven months before she died, with her health failing, Carson spent a morning at the coast with her dear friend Dorothy Freeman, watching the migration of monarch butterflies; that afternoon, she wrote her friend a letter.

September 10, 1963

Dear One,

This is a postscript to our morning at Newagen, something I think I can write better than say. For me it was one of the loveliest of the summer’s hours, and all the details will remain in my memory: that blue September sky, the sounds of the wind in the spruces and surf on the rocks, the gulls busy with their foraging, alighting with deliberate grace, the distant views of Griffiths Head and Todd Point, today so clearly etched, though once half seen in swirling fog. But most of all I shall remember the monarchs, that unhurried westward drift of one small winged form after another, each drawn by some invisible force. We talked a little about their migration, their life history. Did they return? We thought not; for most, at least, this was the closing journey of their lives.

But it occurred to me this afternoon, remembering, that it had been a happy spectacle, that we had felt no sadness when we spoke of the fact that there would be no return. And rightly—for when any living thing has come to the end of its life cycle we accept that end as natural.

For the Monarch, that cycle is measured in a known span of months. For ourselves, the measure is something else, the span of which we cannot know. But the thought is the same: when that intangible cycle has run its course it is a natural and not unhappy thing that a life comes to an end.

That is what those brightly fluttering bits of life taught me this morning. I found a deep happiness in it—so I hope, may you. Thank you for this morning.

Rachel

Letter No. 004

I’LL RAP YOUR HEAD WITH A RATCHET

STEVE ALBINI to NIRVANA

1992

Although the band existed for only seven years and released just three albums, Nirvana’s influence on the music world is immeasurable, thanks in no small part to Smells Like Teen Spirit, the multimillion-selling and multi-award-winning single from their second album, Nevermind, and the hugely popular video that accompanied it. A year after Nevermind’s release, the band got to work on what would be their final album, In Utero, produced by Steve Albini, recording engineer extraordinaire. Shortly before they formally agreed on his involvement, Albini wrote to Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana and laid bare his fascinating recording philosophy.

Letter No. 005

SORROW COMES TO ALL

ABRAHAM LINCOLN to FANNY MCCULLOUGH

December 23, 1862

As the American Civil War raged on, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln received word that Lieutenant Colonel William McCullough, whom he had befriended many years before while working as a lawyer in Illinois, had recently been killed in battle. McCullough’s twenty-two-year-old daughter was so distraught that she refused to eat and was unable to sleep, prompting David Davis, a mutual friend and Supreme Court justice, to make Lincoln, who remembered playing with her as a child, aware of Fanny’s anguish. This compassionate condolence was Lincoln’s response. Fanny McCullough later married and lived until 1920.

                                                                                                     Executive Mansion,

                                                                                                     Washington, December 23, 1862.

Dear Fanny

It is with deep grief that I learn of the death of your kind and brave Father; and, especially, that it is affecting your young heart beyond what is common in such cases. In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You can not now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what I say; and you need only to believe it, to feel better at once. The memory of your dear Father, instead of an agony, will yet be a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before.

Please present my kind regards to your afflicted mother.

Your sincere friend

A. Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln in 1865

Letter No. 006

THE LOSS OF YOU LINGERS

KARIN COOK to JOAN COOK CARPENTER

1999

In 1989, 52-year-old Long Island resident Joan Cook Carpenter passed away after succumbing to breast cancer, a battle she had chosen to keep from her loved ones until her final days. In 1999, a decade after Joan’s death, her twenty-nine-year-old daughter, novelist Karin Cook, wrote her the following letter.

Dear Mom,

What time was I born?

When did I walk?

What was my first word?

My body has begun to look like yours. Suddenly I can see you in me. I have so many questions. I look for answers in the air. Listen for your voice. Anticipate. Find meaning in the example of your life. I imagine what you might have said or done. Sometimes I hear answers in the echo of your absence. The notion of mentor is always a little empty for me. Holding out for the hope of you. My identity has taken shape in spite of that absence. There are women I go to for advice. But advice comes from the outside. Knowing, from within. There is so much I don’t know.

What were your secrets?

What was your greatest source of strength?

When did you know you were dying?

I wish I had paid closer attention. The things that really matter you gave me early on—a way of being and loving and imagining. It’s the stuff of daily life that is often more challenging. I step unsure into a world of rules and etiquette, not knowing what is expected in many situations. I am lacking a certain kind of confidence. Decisions and departures are difficult. As are dinner parties. Celebrations and ceremony. Any kind of change. Small things become symbolic. Every object matters—that moth-eaten sweater, those photos. Suddenly I care about your silverware. My memory is an album of missed opportunities. The loss of you lingers.

Did you like yourself?

Who was your greatest love?

What did you fear most?

In the weeks before your death, I knew to ask questions. At nineteen, I needed to hear your hopes for me. On your deathbed, you said that you understood my love for women, just as you suggested you would have fought against it. In your absence, I have had to imagine your acceptance.

There are choices I have made that would not have been yours. Somehow that knowledge is harder for me than if I had you to fight with. My motions lack forcefulness. I back into decisions rather than forge ahead. This hesitancy leaves me wondering:

Did you ever doubt me?

Would you have accepted me?

What did you wish for me?

I know that my political choices threatened you. Your way was to keep things looking good on the outside, deny certain feelings, erase unpleasant actions. Since your death, I have exposed many of the things that you would have liked to keep hidden. I can no longer hold the family secrets for you.

I search for information about your life. Each scrapbook, letter, anecdote I come across is crucial to my desire to understand you and the choices you made. I have learned about affairs, abuse, all things you would not have wanted me to know. Yet they explain the missing blanks in my memory bank and round out your humanity.

Who did you dream you would be?

Did you ever live alone?

Why did you divorce?

Did you believe in God?

One thing you said haunts me still. When I asked about motherhood, you said that children don’t need as much as you gave. Eighty percent is probably plenty. I was shocked by your words. Did you regret having given so much of yourself? Now, those words seem like a gift. A way of offering me a model of motherhood, beyond even your own example.

Becoming a mother is something I think about a great deal, almost to the point of preoccupation. I have heard it said that constant dreaming about birth often signals a desire to birth one’s self, to come into one’s own. My process of grieving the loss of you has been as much about birthing myself as letting you go.

What were your last thoughts?

Were you proud?

Were you at peace?

What is it like to die?

How frightened you must have been shouldering so much of your illness alone. The level of your own isolation is a mystery to me. In my life, I try hard to reach out, to let others in. I fear loss more than anything. I turn on my computer. Make things up. I tell the truth. My daily work is toward connection. All these questions move me to search, less and less for your answers and increasingly for my own.

Love,

Karin

Letter No. 007

I SEE NO BEAUTY IN LOPSIDED TRUE LOVE

ELIZABETH SMART to GEORGE BARKER

September 27, 1946

Elizabeth Smart (1913–1986) was in her twenties when she first met and fell for fellow poet George Barker. Although he was already married, by 1941 she was pregnant with the first of their four children. Smart and Barker’s unorthodox relationship was famously rocky—fueled by their excessive drinking and Barker’s repeated empty promises to leave his wife, Jessica—and was the subject of Smart’s 1945 novel, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. In September the following year, Smart left Barker once again, and not for the last time. This was her parting letter. Their relationship eventually waned, and Smart brought up the children on her own. George Barker remarried and, in all, had fifteen children by four different women.

27th September 1946

I do not think that I want to lie down in your crowded bed for bouts of therapeutic lovemaking. Loving you, I see no beauty in lopsided true love. It really is in sorrow & not anger that I say: I do not want you any more because I simply cannot bear it. It isn’t only the unfaithfulness. It’s the loneliness, the weeks and months of being alone, really cut off from you, receiving perhaps a postcard saying I fuck you as you pause for breath in fucking somebody else. It would have been better if I had married before I met you, because then you could have given me a few months of fulfilling attentions which is all, apparently, that women need, & then I could have returned to the someone who, possibly, would have cared for me. For you do not want the responsibility even of love & by this I do not mean either money or guilt.

I realize that if you had cared about me the small necessary amount you would not have left me alone with so much pain, but would have contrived to find some other way of doing what you had to. This is the depths & the final & the end of my misery & degradation & if I say goodbye to you now I will be able to keep from being bitter because I am so grateful to you for your last few moments of frankness.

Dearest George, I will NOT give up the belief in true love or if you will romantic love—IT IS possible I KNOW. I never wanted anyone since you. IT IS possible to cometh to rest in someone—but you have not evidently had enough pleasure and power. Maybe I want the middle-aged things now. I’ve had my fuck, but I’ve lost my love. My womb won’t tear me to pieces now, maybe, but my heart certainly will. Goodbye. Elizabeth.

Canadian poet and novelist Elizabeth Smart, 1952

Letter No. 008

MY EARTHLY MISSION IS ALREADY FULFILLED

VIVIAN ROSEWARNE to HIS MOTHER

1940

In May 1940, Vivian Rosewarne, a twenty-three-year-old flying officer in the British Royal Air Force, was killed during the Battle of Dunkirk when the Wellington bomber that he was copiloting was shot down above Belgium. Shortly afterward, his commander, Group Captain Claude Hilton Keith, discovered an unsealed letter among Rosewarne’s belongings, to be forwarded to his mother in the event of his death. Such was its impact in private circles that the next month Vivian Rosewarne’s mother gave permission for her son’s words to be published anonymously in The Times (pictured here) to wide acclaim. In fact, the letter was so popular that it was soon published in book form (500,000 copies were sold that year alone) and inspired a film by Michael Powell.

Dearest Mother:

Though I feel no premonition at all, events are moving rapidly and I have instructed that this letter be forwarded to you should I fail to return from one of the raids that we shall shortly be called upon to undertake. You must hope on for a month, but at the end of that time you must accept the fact that I have handed my task over to the extremely capable hands of my comrades of the Royal Air Force, as so many splendid fellows have already done.

First, it will comfort you to know that my role in this war has been of the greatest importance. Our patrols far out over the North Sea have helped to keep the trade routes clear for our convoys and supply ships, and on one occasion our information was instrumental in saving the lives of the men in a crippled lighthouse relief ship. Though it will be difficult for you, you will disappoint me if you do not at least try to accept the facts dispassionately, for I shall have done my duty to the utmost of my ability. No man can do more, and no one calling himself a man could do less.

I have always admired your amazing courage in the face of continual setbacks; in the way you have given me as good an education and background as anyone in the country: and always kept up appearances without ever losing faith in the future. My death would not mean that your struggle has been in vain. Far from it. It means that your sacrifice is as great as mine. Those who serve England must expect nothing from her; we debase ourselves if we regard our country as merely a place in which to eat and sleep.

History resounds with illustrious names who have given all; yet their sacrifice has resulted in the British Empire where there is a measure of peace, justice and freedom for all, and where a higher standard of civilization has evolved, and is still evolving, than anywhere else. But this is not only concerning our own land. Today we are faced with the greatest organized challenge to Christianity and civilization that the world has ever seen, and I count myself lucky and honoured to be the right age and fully trained to throw my full weight into the scale. For this I have to thank you. Yet there is more work for you to do. The home front will still have to stand united for years after the war is won. For all that can be said against it, I still maintain that this war is a very good thing: every individual is having the chance to give and dare all for his principle like the martyrs of old. However long the time may be, one thing can never be altered–I shall have lived and died an Englishman. Nothing else matters one jot nor can anything ever change it.

You must not grieve for me, for if you really believe in religion and all that it entails that would be hypocrisy. I have no fear of death; only a queer elation . . . I would have it no other way. The universe is so vast and so ageless that the life of one man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice. We are sent to this world to acquire a personality and a character to take with us that can never be taken from us. Those who just eat and sleep, prosper and procreate, are no better than animals if all their lives they are at peace.

I firmly believe that evil things are sent into the world to try us; they are sent deliberately by our Creator to test our mettle because He knows what is good for us. The Bible is full of cases where the easy way out has been discarded for moral principles.

I count myself fortunate in that I have seen the whole country and known men of every calling. But with the final test of war I consider my character fully developed. Thus at my early age my earthly mission is already fulfilled and I am prepared to die with just one regret: that I could not devote myself to making your declining years more happy by being with you; but you will live in peace and freedom and I shall have directly contributed to that, so here again my life will not have been in vain.

Your loving son,

Letter No. 009

KING SEQUOIA

JOHN MUIR to JEANNE CARR

Circa 1870

Born in Scotland in 1838, John Muir was eleven years old when his large family uprooted to the United States, settling at Fountain Lake Farm in Wisconsin. It was while growing up on that farm, now recognized as a National Historic Landmark, that Muir fell in love with the wilderness and decided to dedicate his life to its preservation and promotion. He would become the country’s most famous conservationist and known as the father of the National Park system. Muir held a particular affection for Yosemite Valley, which he championed as a national park. He spent months of his life wandering among its giant sequoias, majestic redwoods larger than any other tree, to which Muir felt a spiritual connection. This letter, written to his friend and mentor Jeanne Carr as he took such a trip, was penned by Muir with ink made from the sap of those same, beloved sequoias.

Squirrelville, Sequoia Co. Nut Time

Dear Mrs. Carr

Do behold the King in his glory, King Sequoia! Behold! Behold! seems all I can say. Some time ago I left all for Sequoia and have been and am at his feet; fasting and praying for light, for is he not the greatest light in the woods, in the world? Where are such columns of sunshine, tangible, accessible, terrestrialised? Well may I fast, not from bread, but from business, book-making, duty-going, and other trifles, and great is my reward already for the manly, treely sacrifice. What giant truths since coming to Gigantea, what magnificent clusters of Sequoiac becauses. From here I cannot recite you one, for you are down a thousand fathoms deep in dark political quagg, not a burr-length less. But I’m in the woods, woods, woods, and they are in me-ee-ee. The King tree and I have sworn eternal love–sworn it without swearing, and I’ve taken the sacrament with Douglas squirrel, drunk Sequoia wine, Sequoia blood, and with its rosy purple drops I am writing this woody gospel letter.

I never before knew the virtue of Sequoia juice. Seen with sunbeams in it, its colour is the most royal of all royal purples. No wonder the Indians instinctively drink it for they know not what. I wish I were so drunk and Sequoical that I could preach the green brown woods to all the juiceless world, descending from this divine wilderness like a John the Baptist, eating Douglas squirrels and wild honey or wild anything, crying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Sequoia is at hand!

There is balm in these leafy Gileads–pungent burrs and living King-juice for all defrauded civilization; for sick grangers and politicians; no need of Salt rivers. Sick or successful, come suck Sequoia and be saved.

Douglas squirrel is so pervaded with rosin and burr juice his flesh can scarce be eaten even by mountaineers. No wonder he is so charged with magnetism! One of the little lions ran across my feet the other day as I lay resting under a fir, and the effect was a thrill like a battery shock. I would eat him no matter how rosiny for the lightning he holds. I wish I could eat wilder things. Think of the grouse with balsam-scented crop stored with spruce buds, the wild sheep full of glacier meadow grass and daisies azure, and the bear burly and brown as Sequoia, eating pine-burrs and wasps’ stings and all; then think of the soft lightningless poultice-like pap reeking upon town tables. No wonder cheeks and legs become flabby and fungoid! I wish I were wilder, and so, bless Sequoia, I will be. There is at least a punky spark in my heart and it may blaze in this autumn gold, fanned by the King. Some of my grandfathers must have been born on a muirland for there is heather in me, and tinctures of bog juices, that send me to Cassiope, and oozing through all my veins impel me unhaltingly through endless glacier meadows, seemingly the deeper and danker the better.

See Sequoia aspiring in the upper skies, every summit modelled in fine cycloidal curves as if pressed into unseen moulds, every bole warm in the mellow amber sun. How truly godful in mien! I was talking the other day with a duchess and was struck with the grand bow with which she bade me goodbye and thanked me for the glaciers I gave her, but this forenoon King Sequoia bowed to me down in the grove as I stood gazing, and the high bred gestures of the lady seemed rude by contrast.

There goes Squirrel Douglas, the master spirit of the tree-top. It has just occurred to me how his belly is buffy brown and his back silver grey. Ever since the first Adam of his race saw trees and burrs, his belly has been rubbing upon buff bark, and his back has been combed with silver needles. Would that some of you, wise–terribly wise–social scientists, might discover some method of living as true to nature as the buff people of the woods, running as free as the winds and waters among the burrs and filbert thickets of these leafy, mothery woods.

The sun is set and the star candles are being lighted to show me and Douglas squirrel to bed. Therefore, my Carr, goodnight. You say, When are you coming down? Ask the Lord–Lord Sequoia.

Letter No. 010

HUSBAND UNTIL DEATH

ABREAM SCRIVEN to HIS WIFE

September 19, 1858

In 1858, an educated Georgia slave named Abream Scriven was abruptly parted from his wife, Dinah, and their children when his master, Reverend Charles Colcock Jones, sold him to a trader based many miles away in New Orleans. As he awaited his departure, heartbroken, Scriven handwrote a farewell letter to Dinah. A reply arrived but its contents are unknown. Her subsequent attempts to have her husband brought back failed; it is believed that they never saw each other again.

Savannah Sept the 19. 1858

Dinah Jones

My Dear Wife

I take the pleasure of writing you these few lines with much regret to inform you that

Reviews for Letters of Note

[eduscapes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This diverse collection of letters was skillfully organized by Shaun Usher. From ancient Egypt to recent entries, this engaging book contains 125 letters that span disciplines and themes. Each entry contains background information and in many cases additional primary source materials such as sketches or photos. While some are professional in nature others are highly personal. Regardless of their time period or theme, each letter provides unique insights into both the author and the recipient. While it's a book that could easily be read cover-to-cover, it's equally satisfying to simply pick up and read a letter at random. ARC courtesy of Library Thing and the publisher.

[theflamingoreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever wished that you could surreptitiously read someone elses mail? Not for any nefarious reasons, but just to get to know this person a little better. Just to see what they considered worthy of sitting down and writing about. This beautiful book satisfies that curiosity and provides an 'average' person look at the mindset via the personal written word of some 'not-so-average' folks. You will have heard of most of the writers, others will be new to you, but all of them have something interesting to say. It's a peek at their questions, love, despair, wonderings, wanderings, good news, and calamities.The book contains copies (photo's) of some of the letters and notes that we never get to see unless we are the recipient. This book can be a slow read (a letter or two a day) and a compelling read on a rainy day. You'll find things that you never knew and just how much we all share as humans facings the same challenges and joys. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning about other people who thought that only the receiver would ever read their letter and how profoundly we are all the same.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read letters on the Letters of Note site from time to time, so I was excited to receive this from LTER. It is a finished copy, and is absolutely beautiful in hardback, with transcripts of the letters as well as photos of them in many cases. The subtitle promises an eclectic collection, and that is certainly delivered - from a letter from a woman Roman Britain inviting another woman to her birthday party to one from John Lennon to Eric Claption, and everything in between. I appreciated the inclusion of non-American letters, such as one from Che Guevara to his children and one from a prominent Czech socialist to her daughter shortly before her execution. Some letters are light-hearted and some are deadly serious. It took me a long time to read this book because it's not the kind of thing you really sit down with and read cover to cover, but instead visit for a few minutes here and there to see what treasures await. Treasures like a letter from Gene Wilder about his wardrobe for Willie Wonka, and a letter from Katherine Mansfield to her husband's mistress - you really never know what you might find the next time you open the book. One of my favorites is the letter the book ends with, which is from a British soldier describing the impromptu Christmas truce with some German troops in World War I. It's the kind of thing you've heard about, but reading it described to folks back home by someone who experienced it is amazing. The book would be a great one to have on the coffee table. I'm sure it would draw people in to pick it up and whatever they find is likely to spark some sort of conversation!

[julieandbeli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book! It is lavishly printed, with full-page reproductions of the letters and, where appropriate, transcriptions and/or translations. Some of the material is from famous people, others from ordinary folks. Some is thousands of years old, others modern. And the letters come from around the world, such that one who reads the book can not help but be struck by how much we share with our fellow humans. My favorite letter included a thousand-of-years-old note from a young Egyptian man to his dead parents, complaining about his good-for-nothing brother and asking for them to (spiritually) intercede, and an amazing letter from a young Winston Churchill to the Boer commander whose prison camp he was about to escape during the Second Boer War. I received this wonderful book in a LibraryThing Giveaway.

[neftzger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Letters of Note, Volume 2 is a very fun read, as it primarily contains the contents of actual letters written from one notable person to another. Authors include Charlotte Bronte, JK Rowling, Tennessee Williams, Winston Churchill, and many others. There are also company memos that are quite amusing to read (and yes, someone actually sent those to employees!). The topics vary, so this is a book where the reader can skip around or stagger the reading across scattered bits of free time. I have placed my copy in my living room for guests to peruse on visits. Entertaining to say the very least - both amusing and enjoyable. Recommended light reading as an escape from the stresses of life and other hazards.One of my favorites quotes is in a letter from William S. Burroughs to Truman Capote: "You choose instead to sell out a talent that was not yours to sell."Note: I was given a free ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's a book of letters and, if that sounds boring, you obviously haven't read this book. These are brilliant missives, some funny, some sad, some zany, all fascinating. I loved Letters of Note, Vol. 1; I'm amazed to find that Vol. 2 is just as fabulous.

[sweeks1980 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As the owner of Shaun Usher’s first “Letters of Note” as well as his “Lists of Note,” I was delighted to receive “Letters of Note, volume 2” from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. Like Usher’s previous compilations, “Letters of Note, volume 2” is a physically beautiful book, with full-color pictures and reproductions of the original correspondence. Some of the letters are also typed on an accompanying page, which provides a more reader-friendly format for perusing the different letters.There is a nice variety of people and backgrounds included, from political figures to entertainers to everyday people. This collection includes a letter from Noel Coward, who writes to Marlene Deitrich in order to administer a hefty dose of tough love; a puzzeled and curmudgeonly letter from cartoonist Robert Crumb to saxophonist Mats Gustafsson; and a delightful set of correspondence between J.K. Rowling (writing as her character Albus Dumbledore) and Steven Armes, who was seeking employment at Hogwarts. Accompanying each letter is a brief paragraph or two that provides helpful background information on the writers as well as context for the letters.The only element of the book that could have been better from a personal standpoint (and it is a quibble that has been addressed by other reviewers on LibraryThing) is the organization of the letters. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the organization. While this can invite readers to stumble upon letters and individuals they might not have sought out before, it can also be frustrating. This problem is somewhat mitigated by the table of contents and index.Despite this very minor criticism, “Letters of Note, volume 2” is an excellent book and is worthy of its predecessors. I can’t wait to share it with my students, and I’ve already gifted a copy of it to a friend.

[zimbawilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was first stunned by receiving a hardbound copy for review. This is a beautifully put together volume of coorespondece that not only includes many photos and the text of the letters, but the actual reproduction of the originals themselves. Both the famous (John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Charles Bukowski just to name a few) to the completely unknown this book has something for everyone and the history it reveals is amazing. My favorite so far is the Christmas Eve letter from a WWI soldier to his wife describing the Christmas cease fire between some German and British troops. You may have heard the story but to see the actual letter and read the first hand account is something that you will not forget. I have had Volume 1 on my wish list forever but never picked it up. I will be purchasing it soon I am sure. Simply terrific!