How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) - Mary Owens Crowther (books for students to read .txt) 📗
- Author: Mary Owens Crowther
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Crests and monograms should not be used on the envelope. In the matter of crests and heraldic emblems on stationery and announcements, many families with authentic crests discontinued their use during the war in an effort to reduce everything to the last word in simplicity. However, there are many who still use them. The best engravers will not design crests for families without the right to use them. But the extreme in "crests" is the crest which does not mean family at all, but is a device supposed to give an idea of the art or taste of the individual. For example, a quill or a scroll may be the basis for such a "crest."
Really no good reason exists why, in default of a family with a crest, one should not decide to be a crest founder. The only point is that the crest should not pretend to be something it is not—a hereditary affair.
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On the use of crests in stationery one authority says:
As to the important question of crests and heraldic emblems in our present-day stationery, these are being widely used, but no crests are made to order where the family itself has none. Only such crests as definitely belong to the family are ever engraved on notepaper, cards, or any new style of place cards. Several stationers maintain special departments where crests are looked up and authenticated and such families as are found in Fairbairn's Crests, Burke's Peerage, Almanche de Gotha, the Armoire Général, are utilized to help in the establishment of the armorial bearing of American families. Of course, the College of Heraldry is always available where the American family can trace its ancestors to Great Britain.
Many individuals use the coat-of-arms of their mothers, but according to heraldry they really have no right to do so. The woman to-day could use her father's and husband's crests together if the crests are properly in pale, that is, if a horizontal line be drawn to cut the shield in two—the husband's on the left, the father's on the right. If the son wants to use the father's and mother's crest, this must be quartered to conform to rule, the arms of the father to be in the first and fourth quarter; that of the mother in the second and third quarter. The daughter is not supposed to use a coat-of-arms except in lozenge form.
The dinner card that reflects the most refined and modern type of usage is a card of visiting card size, with a coat-of-arms in gold and gilt border, on real parchment. These cards are hand-lettered and used as place cards for dinner parties.
The use of sealing wax is optional, though a good rule to follow is not to use it unless it is necessary. The wax may be any dark color on white, cream, or light gray paper. Black wax is used with mourning stationery. The best place to stamp a seal is the centre of the flap. It should not be done at all if it cannot be accomplished neatly. The crest or monogram should be quickly and firmly impressed into the hot wax.
In selecting stationery it is a good plan to adhere to a single style, provided of course that a good choice of paper and stamping has been made. The style will become as characteristic of you as your handwriting. Distinction can be had in quiet refinement of line and color.
The use of the typewriter for social correspondence has some authority—though most of us will want to keep to the old custom of pen and ink. In case this should be employed for some good reason, the letter must be placed in the centre of the page with all four margins left wide. Of course the signature to any typewritten letter must be in ink.
Business StationeryFor the usual type of business letter, a single large sheet of white paper, unruled, of the standard business size, 8½ x 11 inches, is generally used. The standard envelopes are 6½ x 3½ inches and 10 x 4½, the former requiring three folds of the letter (one across and two lengthwise) and the latter requiring two folds (across). The former size, 6½ x 3½, is much preferred. The latter is useful in the case of bulky enclosures.
Bond of a good quality is probably the best choice. Colored papers, while attracting attention in a pile of miscellaneous correspondence, are not in the best taste. Rather have the letter striking for its excellent typing and arrangement.
Department stores and firms that write a great many letters to women often employ a notepaper size sheet for these letters. On this much smaller sheet the elite type makes a better appearance with letters of this kind.
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The letterhead may be printed, engraved, or lithographed, and it is safest done in black. It should cover considerably less than a quarter of the page. It contains the name of the firm, the address, and the business. The addresses of branch houses, telephone numbers, cable addresses, names of officials, and other data may be included. But all flamboyant, colored advertisements, trade slogans, or advertising matter extending down the sides of the letter detract from the actual content of the letter, which it is presumed is the essential part of the letter.
For personal business letters, that is, for letters not social but concerning personal affairs not directly connected with his business, a man often uses a letter sheet partaking more of the nature of social stationery than of business. This sheet is usually rather smaller than the standard business size and of heavier quality. The size and shape of these letter sheets are matters of personal preference—7 x 10 inches or 8 x 10 inches—sometimes even as large as the standard 8½ x 11 or as small as 5½ x 8½ or 6 x 8. The smaller size, however, requires the double sheet, and the engraving may be done on the fourth page instead of the first. The inside address in these letters is generally placed at the end of the letters instead of above the salutation.
Instead of a business letterhead the sheet may have an engraved name and home or business address without any further business connotations, or it may be simply an address line.
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