What Paper Size Was Used For Personal Letters During The First World War?

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

I see old letters and I am amazed at how big "letter" size is today.

 

If I was an English lady (or gentleman) sending a personal letter to a boy out on the front, what sized paper would be commonly used?

[Kalessin]

Traditional British correspondence paper sizes (from before the A-series which started 1922 or so):

 

Albert 4" x 6"

 

Duke 7" x 5.5"

 

Duchess 6" x 4.5"

 

Kings 8" x 6.25"

 

My guess is that most people would have used Duke or Kings size paper, but the specifics of stationery etiquette of the time are beyond me.

 

 

http://baph.org.uk/reference/papersizes.html

 

https://www.smythson.com/personalised-stationery/wizard/index/sku/P-writing-paper#/style

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

That's very helpful, thanks!

[Maccabeus]

Chapters 27 & 28 of the 1922 edition of Emily Post's "Etiquette" cover stationery size and color. http://www.bartleby.com/95/

[TheFountainPenOfYouth]

Can anyone check an old version of Debretts from the era? Maybe it would have some info as well.

Edited February 27, 2018 by TheFountainPenOfYouth

[Ted A]

Chapters 27 & 28 of the 1922 edition of Emily Post's "Etiquette" cover stationery size and color. http://www.bartleby.com/95/

Someone should have posted that before the February InCoWriMo/LetterMo writing frenzy. An awful lot of us would have upset Ms Post.

[dcwaites]

From Chapter 27 --

 

 

it is true that if a young man wishes to choose a wife in whose daily life he is sure always to find the unfinished task, the untidy mind and the syncopated housekeeping, he may do it quite simply by selecting her from her letters.

 

That's where I went wrong. I went for personal character and moral turpitude. I should have checked her handwriting first.

She certainly didn't check my handwriting, or she would have run a mile...

[Flaxmoore]

I know standard in WW2 was pretty small- I have letters from my grandfather (written in a beauty of a blue-black I can't match) that are on a page roughly A5 in size. I'd have to pull them out again to check, but it can't be much more than 6x9.

[CraigR]

My grandfather served as an artillery officer in France during WW1 and was a prolific letter writer. Although the collection of his letters went to my uncle, I do remember spending many hours reading them when I was a young man. It is my recollection that most of them were on paper roughly the size of A5 or maybe half-sheets. He wrote on both sides of the paper in a very nice cursive script. I have two of his pens from that time period. It is my understanding that his folks sent him boxes with writing supplies every so often and that the boxes included some note cards and envelopes. Wish I had access to the collection, I would scan a few and post for the forum.

[jonschram]

My father has a pretty good collection of ww2 letters from both sets of his grandfather's. It is very evident which side (his maternal grandfather in this case) was more affluent: beautiful stationary I would guesstimate at 5" x 7".

 

The less affluent (paternal) grandfather used what I assume were blank pages torn out of military technical manuals. These are a little wider, but a good deal longer. A few are different sized and on really thin paper, like you would find in a bible.

[TSherbs]

From Chapter 27 --

 

 

That's where I went wrong. I went for personal character and moral turpitude. I should have checked her handwriting first.

She certainly didn't check my handwriting, or she would have run a mile...

"turpitude"? Not rectitude?

 

Handwriting is the window to the soul.

[thudthwacker]

"It is true that if a young man wishes to choose a wife in whose daily life he is sure always to find the unfinished task, the untidy mind and the syncopated housekeeping, he may do it quite simply by selecting her from her letters."

 

 

Hm. You know, I think I would absolutely describe my wife's mind as "untidy". When I search for a metaphor for it, I end up with the vision of a cosy room where nearly every surface has at least one book on it, opened and laying face-down, awaiting being picked up again. "Unfinished tasks" go hand-in-hand with "untidy mind", I think -- any number of times some mundane chore was interrupted by the sudden need to, say, sponge-paint a wall in the stairwell in pastel colors, and then paint Rumi quotes over it. It's a pretty easy choice between whatever it was she meant to do that neither of us would ever remember, and a little poetry on the walls.

 

And "syncopated housekeeping"? As in, "close enough for jazz"? Yes, I'd say that's the way I'd describe our approach to housework.

 

Using all that for context, when I imagine a page of her handwriting -- fast and sure, with the ruled lines acting as suggestions to be ignored without pause, occasionally illegible but always distinctive -- I think Ms. Post was not too far off the mark. Though I suspect we'd disagree as to whether or not these were all good things. As to that: she can go get her own wife. I'm quite happy with mine.

Edited March 15, 2018 by thudthwacker

[dcwaites]

"turpitude"? Not rectitude?

 

Handwriting is the window to the soul.

 

Nope, definitely turpitude. More fun that way...