Letters of Note

The eagerly awaited Letters of Note: Volume II is now being crowdfunded through Unbound. Pledge for the perfect companion to Letters of Note and get your name in the back of the special edition here. It's going to be just as good, or possibly even better, than the first!

Why a book?
As the pitch video explains, this book project has grown out of a website: www.lettersofnote.com, an edited collection of letters, telegrams and memos which are worthy of a wider circulation. People really seem to like the site, but there are some things a screen just can’t do. To me, letters are small artworks and this book will be catalogue of beautiful, meaningful objects.

Describe it
A large coffee-table volume with 150 letters, many of them reproduced in facsimile with an introduction by me and a transcript of the text. Unbound’s plan is to produce a physical object of great loveliness: cloth bound, using thick, uncoated paper: something that gives you the experience of holding and reading the actual letters themselves. As well as being a good read, it will make a lovely gift. It’s being printed in Germany where they understand these things.

What’s in it?
Many of the letters will have appeared on the site but I'm holding some of the best back. The main thing is that it will be an eclectic mix of the humour, seriousness, sadness and brilliance that make up our lives. Here’s a random selection of what I hope you’ll find inside:

• A 19th century letter from the Chairman of London Hospital in which he introduces 'The Elephant Man' – Joseph Merrick – to the world and asks for help from the public.


• Virginia Woolf's unbearably sad suicide note, addressed to her husband.


• Steve Martin’s hilarious 'personalised' form letter to a fan.


• The poignant farewell letter of a Kamikaze pilot to his two young children, written the night before his mission.


• A 9th century form letter from China used to apologise for having drunk too much at a dinner party.


• William Safire’s memo containing a speech for president Nixon to deliver if the Apollo 11 mission failed and the astronauts were lost.


• A heartbreaking series of letters from a 31 year-old woman with dementia desperately trying to contact her husband from a German asylum in 1909.


• Queen Elizabeth II's charming a handwritten letter and personal recipe for drop scones, as sent to President Eisenhower.


• An explanation from Albert Einstein to a young girl in reply to her question, 'Do Scientists Pray?’.


• A fascinating letter to Winston Churchill that contains the first ever recorded usage of 'O.M.G.’


• Leonardo da Vinci's remarkable job application letter.

Where does my money go?
This is going to take me eight months of work obtaining permissions, and agreement from all the parties included in the correspondence, as well as laying out the book and designing it so it works for the reader. That’s hundreds of hours hunched in front of my screen, most of it spent writing (you guessed it) polite letters.

Why Unbound?
The success of the site has meant I’ve had many publishers approaching me to publish a book, but the Unbound idea seems best for me. Let the people who like the site help me make the book. There will be plenty of chance for me to share progress and ask for advice as it goes along. We aim to publish in a year’s time.