RETURN OF POST
Why letter writing is making a comeback
Words
ALICE VINCENT
Photography
JACK FAIREY
A few years ago, a book was published that allowed us to peer behind the curtain of how famous artists, musicians and writers went about their days. Daily Rituals collected the eccentricities and routines of people including F. Scott Fitzgerald (wrote fuelled by gin) and George Gershwin (worked in his pyjamas). As a writer somewhat preoccupied with how to spend my time, I find myself thinking about some of these a lot – in particular, the amount of hours so regularly put aside for “correspondence”, or letter-writing.
Against a landscape of near-constant emails and messages exchanged on social media channels and WhatsApp, the notion of separating your “correspondence” out into a certain part of the day can seem provocative to the point of idealism. But when even phone calls can feel like an old school option, what role does post – and letter-writing – have in our daily lives?
These days, written correspondence exists in two ever-more extreme camps: the bad and boring (medical letters, ones about tax returns, serious things regarding our homes, insurance renewals) and the utterly delightful: birthday and Christmas cards, perhaps a wedding invitation or two, cards announcing new arrivals.
But what if we changed that, and started making a return to letter-writing simply because it is a lovely thing to do? A moment to slow down, think of someone we love, spend a few minutes writing to them and then putting a pleasingly tactile envelope in the post to arrive like a good surprise.
Email and digital communications may now be the norm, but there is a sense that people are wanting to reclaim the supposed ‘lost art’ of letter-writing. In a world increasingly spinning far too quickly, it makes sense that it would hold the same gentle allure as other analog habits that are enjoying a resurgence: Gen Z increasingly prefer to buy books in person, rather than online, and read physical copies rather than eBooks (they're behind the recent peak in physical book sales, and comprise the largest group of library-users). CDs, vinyl records – which have enjoyed a 2,000% sales increase since 2007 – early-era digital and film cameras all persevere, despite the fact we have the technology to replace them in the phone in our pocket.
Caroline Kent, founder of luxury stationers Scribble and Daub, sent what she “hoped was a charming note to the head buyer at Liberty” when the company was starting out. “They placed their first order a few days later, and have been doing so ever since. We now have a devoted following of stylish customers who regularly buy our cards.”
Kent believes that writing and sending letters – “an actual hand-written envelope on the doormat” – is one of the most stylish things a person can do. “Forget a divine dress or killer heels, if you want to really make an impression in a society hurtling towards digital erasure of the human touch, be a woman of letters, take the time to write, delight your friends and impress strangers,” she says. “And, it really doesn’t take that long to do.”
We’re entering the time of year when everyone scrabbles to get something in the diary before Christmas – drinks and dinners, lunches and catch-ups. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed among it all. And perhaps that makes it an ideal time to sink into the practice of letter-writing, of selecting a piece of paper or a beautiful card, writing a note to express a thought, reflection on the year gone by or simply wishing to catch up in 2025, instead.
You can read more from Alice via her newsletter, Savour.