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When Did People Stop Writing Letters As Part Of Everyday Life?


nostalgic

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I'm just reading Iris Origo's fascinating history, "A Merchant of Prato." The merchant in question, Francesco Datini, kept his entire international trading network together during the late 14th and early 15th centuries with letters he wrote himself. (He apparently didn't trust or wish to pay clerks.) He sent his partners and factors detailed, day-by-day instructions on operating the business, and on their personal conduct, and expected nearly daily reports from them in great detail. The good news is that he saved much of the correspondence, giving historians an incredible record of a 14th-century Tuscan trading house. The bad news is that it took time: he complains in one letter about feeling unwell because he had been writing letters for the last two days straight, without food or sleep.

ron

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The cost is a factor, the cost of sending a letter in the UK is now 50p (US$0.82) second class, or 60p (US$0.99) first class, and the UK is the size of Oregon. Alternatively I could send a letter to Oregon for 88p (US$1.45). Royal Mail was privatised last month, I can see that price going up over the next few years.

 

I write letters 2-3 times a week to family and friends (some from secondary school, some I met through FPN). I don't think I have ever thrown a letter away. I have started saving digital photographs of them all on cloud storage, then they are nicely indexed and there in case anything happens to the originals. Combining the two technologies for communication and archive seems to be pretty good for record keeping.

 

I'm sure that I send more letters to more people than my parents or grand parents ever did.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

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I am totally agree with you that Letter writing was a basic part of everyday life for most people throughout the 19th Century and well into the 20th Century. But I think, much few peoples write letter because there are many ways are available on internet such as mail, SMS etc. I am so happy to found best experience about letter writing.

 

 

Thank you.

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