Sick of signing off "sincerely"? Here are some alternatives of note.

Part 1.





Part 2.

C. S. Lewis received thousands of letters from youngsters, and he attempted to respond to all of them—not with a form reply but with letters of substance and value. On this day in 1956, he replied to a young girl who wanted to become a writer. His letter included this list... "What really matters is:—

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

Currently reading this collection of letters between Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova and economist John Keynes and I’m struggling to think of someone who ended letters as brilliantly as Lopokova. Exhibit A

Big week! 😬 On Thursday, these brand new, themed collections of letters are published. I love them; hopefully you will too. Letters about sex, fathers, dogs, grief, New York, and space. They fit in big pockets and make excellent gifts. Available in all the usual places. Very proud of these books. I'll be showing you letters from all the titles in the coming days and weeks, on here and on Instagram (instagram.com/lettersofnote) and in the newsletter (news.lettersofnote.com) and anywhere else that springs to mind.

On this day in 1899, E. B. White was born. He was, in my opinion, the greatest letter writer. I mean. How could you even reply?

"My next astronaut is Buzz Aldrin."

(From the book, 'A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong'.) From the same book. Armstrong received this letter on his 70th birthday. He forwarded it to NASA and asked if they had "ever refuted the allegations or assembled information to be used in rebuttal?"

Exactly 30 years ago, Muppets creator Jim Henson died. He left behind two letters, to be opened after his death. Read both here: lettersofnote.com/2013/09/24/don… The Muppets "found out" about Jim Henson’s death when reading letters from kids (prepare yourself and skip to 2m40s):

The decline postcard of George Bernard Shaw, who died on this day in 1950. bit.ly/2pqs32A But Shaw didn't always send out that card. He enjoyed declining invitations. For example...

Louis Armstrong signing off in style. A thread... Swiss Krissly Yours,
Satchmo

(From a letter dated Nov 1940. ‘Swiss Kriss’ was his favourite laxative; ‘Satchmo’ was his nickname - short for ‘Satchel mouth’.)

If this is real I'll walk away from letters, forever.

https://twitter.com/trish_regan/status/1184559361638748161

oh shit it's real. RIP me.

Saigon fell on this day in 1975, signalling the end of the Vietnam War. US forces were airlifting thousands to safety when the crew of USS Midway spotted this small plane approaching the carrier. It was being flown by South Vietnamese Air Force Major Buang-Ly, who had just fled Saigon with his wife and 5 kids, also aboard. With fuel running low, circling the carrier, he tried dropping notes from the plane. Before long, this one hit the deck, tied to a pistol.

Eton College writes to Boris Johnson's dad in 1982 A friend sent me that Boris nugget. Apparently the full letter was originally reprinted in the book 'Boris: The Adventures of Boris Johnson' by Andrew Gimson.

Spike Milligan was born 100 years ago today which means I'm duty-bound to do a thread about him. #SpikeMilligan100 Spike Milligan once jokingly sent a telegram to his paranoid friend, Peter Sellers. It simply read, "IGNORE FIRST TELEGRAM."

This politely devastating letter from Michael Wolff's lawyers to Donald Trump's lawyers really did hit the spot. Thanks to the many people who threw it my way. Let's take a look at some other Legal Letters of Note *gestures towards thread*

Full letter: scribd.com/document/36869… As all humans know, the greatest ever response to a legal threat was written in 1971, by Private Eye magazine. Concise, powerful, hilarious. A work of art.

Full exchange: lettersofnote.com/2013/08/arkell…