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Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Celebrating the Joys of Letter Writing
The author of the much-admired Tolstoy and the Purple Chair goes on a quest through the history of letters and her own personal correspondence to discover and celebrate what is special about the handwritten letter.
Witty, moving, enlightening, and inspiring, Signed, Sealed, Delivered begins with Nina Sankovitch's discovery of a trove of hundred year- old letters. The letters are in an old steamer trunk she finds in her backyard and include missives written by a Princeton freshman to his mother in the early 1900s. Nina's own son is heading off to Harvard, and she hopes that he will write to her, as the Princeton student wrote to his mother and as Nina wrote to hers. But times have changed. Before Nina can persuade her child of the value of letters, she must first understand for herself exactly what it is about letters that make them so significant, and just why she wants to receive letters from her son. Sankovitch sets off on a quest through the history of letter writing, from the ancient Egyptians to the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise, from the letters received by President Lincoln after his son's death to the correspondence of Edith Wharton and Henry James.
Sankovitch uncovers and defines the specific qualities that make letters so special, examining not only historical letters but also the letters in epistolary novels, her husband's love letters, and dozens more sources, including her son's brief reports from college on the weather and his allowance.
In this beautifully written book, Nina Sankovitch reminds us that letters offer proof and legacy of what is most important in life: love and connection. In the end, she finds, the letters we write are even more important than the ones we wait for.
Witty, moving, enlightening, and inspiring, Signed, Sealed, Delivered begins with Nina Sankovitch's discovery of a trove of hundred year- old letters. The letters are in an old steamer trunk she finds in her backyard and include missives written by a Princeton freshman to his mother in the early 1900s. Nina's own son is heading off to Harvard, and she hopes that he will write to her, as the Princeton student wrote to his mother and as Nina wrote to hers. But times have changed. Before Nina can persuade her child of the value of letters, she must first understand for herself exactly what it is about letters that make them so significant, and just why she wants to receive letters from her son. Sankovitch sets off on a quest through the history of letter writing, from the ancient Egyptians to the medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise, from the letters received by President Lincoln after his son's death to the correspondence of Edith Wharton and Henry James.
Sankovitch uncovers and defines the specific qualities that make letters so special, examining not only historical letters but also the letters in epistolary novels, her husband's love letters, and dozens more sources, including her son's brief reports from college on the weather and his allowance.
In this beautifully written book, Nina Sankovitch reminds us that letters offer proof and legacy of what is most important in life: love and connection. In the end, she finds, the letters we write are even more important than the ones we wait for.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
14 people are currently reading
1073 people want to read
About the author
Nina Sankovitch
5 books431 followersNina Sankovitch is a bestselling writer, avid historian, and voracious reader. She can be reached via Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, and on her website, www.ninasankovitch.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
August 24, 2017
Nina Sankovitch, author of the highly acclaimed memoir Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, has decided to explore the art of corresponding by letter in her newest book. She has chosen to go ‘on a quest through the history of letters and her own personal correspondence to discover and celebrate what is special about the handwritten letter’.
It is utterly charming to write a book about something which seems, to the modern world, to be so quaint, particularly in an age when it is far more likely to type a quick email or contact friends through mediums like Facebook and Twitter, than to settle down with a pen and paper and send off the finished result in the more traditional way, envelope et al. Those who love to read letter collections – and there are, it seems, many of us scattered around the globe – are sure to find much of interest within Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Celebrating the Joys of Letter Writing.
Throughout, Sankovitch moves from letters written in ancient times, focusing upon those within Greece and Egypt, to the correspondence which exists between famous writers. We as readers are able to see how letter writing has adapted over time, to fit the changing world – from documenting love and expressing sorrow, to solving the most brutal of crimes and passing trivial notes at school. She begins her book with rather a sweet personal anecdote, of the moment at which her young son sent her his first letter: ‘He quickly covered an index card with blue marker squiggles, then carefully worked the card into an envelope. His face serious, he turned and handed me the envelope’. Sankovitch also writes of the importance of saving letters, believing that they are ‘the history of our lives made solid’, which ‘place us firmly within our history’.
Sankovitch’s writing style is lovely, and the warmth of her personality can be found in every page. The way in which she weaves in her own experiences of writing and receiving letters, and the delicious silence which comes between the two, works marvellously. An avid letter writer as a child, it seems as though she was spurred on to start writing Signed, Sealed, Delivered after unearthing ‘a trove of old letters’ from members of the Seligman family in the shed of her newly purchased house in New York. Throughout, she sets out the history of each family or person whom she discovers through the art of their correspondence, describing the ways in which the things that they wrote and sent reveal crucial elements about themselves and their personalities. She sees the importance in every scrap of letter which she encounters, believing that even the tiniest note has a story to tell. The structure which Sankovitch uses is not a chronological one, but one segment leads wonderfully to another, and the entirety feels well-rounded in consequence.
Sankovitch also portrays the way in which letter writing through history has been able to cross the boundaries set in place by society – to speak about forbidden relationships, and to converse with those of other races in the United States far before the advent of the Civil Rights Movement, for instance. The social history has been well written and considered, giving each letter and the story which goes with it a good grounding. The author brings fascinating people to the fore, and the aforementioned Seligman family are a fabulous example of this. One of the sons, James, whom Sankovitch is particularly fond of, is ‘a sweet and funny and affectionate correspondent’, who touchingly ‘wrote home almost daily’ when he was away.
Rather than becoming overdone in the stories it relates or its gushing love for letter writing, as could so easily have happened in the putting together of such a book, Sankovitch has created a work which is both far-reaching and concise. Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a lovely piece of praise for something which should be revived – the simple practice of writing letters, which surely means a lot more to its recipient than a hastily composed email or text message. Hopefully, Sankovitch will inspire far more people to correspond by traditional methods, and will help to bring back the popularity of something which has been so very important to our ancestors for millennia.
It is utterly charming to write a book about something which seems, to the modern world, to be so quaint, particularly in an age when it is far more likely to type a quick email or contact friends through mediums like Facebook and Twitter, than to settle down with a pen and paper and send off the finished result in the more traditional way, envelope et al. Those who love to read letter collections – and there are, it seems, many of us scattered around the globe – are sure to find much of interest within Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Celebrating the Joys of Letter Writing.
Throughout, Sankovitch moves from letters written in ancient times, focusing upon those within Greece and Egypt, to the correspondence which exists between famous writers. We as readers are able to see how letter writing has adapted over time, to fit the changing world – from documenting love and expressing sorrow, to solving the most brutal of crimes and passing trivial notes at school. She begins her book with rather a sweet personal anecdote, of the moment at which her young son sent her his first letter: ‘He quickly covered an index card with blue marker squiggles, then carefully worked the card into an envelope. His face serious, he turned and handed me the envelope’. Sankovitch also writes of the importance of saving letters, believing that they are ‘the history of our lives made solid’, which ‘place us firmly within our history’.
Sankovitch’s writing style is lovely, and the warmth of her personality can be found in every page. The way in which she weaves in her own experiences of writing and receiving letters, and the delicious silence which comes between the two, works marvellously. An avid letter writer as a child, it seems as though she was spurred on to start writing Signed, Sealed, Delivered after unearthing ‘a trove of old letters’ from members of the Seligman family in the shed of her newly purchased house in New York. Throughout, she sets out the history of each family or person whom she discovers through the art of their correspondence, describing the ways in which the things that they wrote and sent reveal crucial elements about themselves and their personalities. She sees the importance in every scrap of letter which she encounters, believing that even the tiniest note has a story to tell. The structure which Sankovitch uses is not a chronological one, but one segment leads wonderfully to another, and the entirety feels well-rounded in consequence.
Sankovitch also portrays the way in which letter writing through history has been able to cross the boundaries set in place by society – to speak about forbidden relationships, and to converse with those of other races in the United States far before the advent of the Civil Rights Movement, for instance. The social history has been well written and considered, giving each letter and the story which goes with it a good grounding. The author brings fascinating people to the fore, and the aforementioned Seligman family are a fabulous example of this. One of the sons, James, whom Sankovitch is particularly fond of, is ‘a sweet and funny and affectionate correspondent’, who touchingly ‘wrote home almost daily’ when he was away.
Rather than becoming overdone in the stories it relates or its gushing love for letter writing, as could so easily have happened in the putting together of such a book, Sankovitch has created a work which is both far-reaching and concise. Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a lovely piece of praise for something which should be revived – the simple practice of writing letters, which surely means a lot more to its recipient than a hastily composed email or text message. Hopefully, Sankovitch will inspire far more people to correspond by traditional methods, and will help to bring back the popularity of something which has been so very important to our ancestors for millennia.
May 18, 2014
A wonderful and intriguing beginning when the author shares an experience of buying a new house, her children babies, and discovering an old trunk with letters dating back to the late 1800's, which the seller isn't interested in having returned. And through the letters we meet one link in a family which has lived a long time in that house, letters from a son to his mother.
As the author writes this book, a great letter writer herself, her children are now grown and her son about to go to college, but we now live in an age of text messaging, instant chat, a more disposable form of communication that doesn't endure. Will she convince her son to write to her, the kind of letters she has appreciated herself?
She takes us on journey through a stack of published letters that have been preserved and published, introducing those interested in letters and the epistolary form, to a long list of books and references that speak of great love, erotic fantasy, a mother's love, a son's last words from the front and much more.
I enjoyed the book, though perhaps there were too many examples of short encounters and I could have easily been swept away by a more in-depth discovery of fewer pairs of letter writers.
The relationship between Gertrude Stein, Alice B.Toklas and Samuel Steward stands out, he wrote a letter to Gertrude Stein that was to become the beginning of a lifelong friendship, (interspersed with trips to Paris to see the women), much of it conducted through letters and when Gertrude died he and Alice continued to write for another 20 years until her death. Steward also wrote a journal, religiously writing notes every evening of all that had happened during the day, from which he penned his memoir Dear Sammy.
Ultimately, by referring to so many pairs of correspondence, we find there is something in here for everyone, whether it is from today, from our more recent history, or Heloise, a cloistered nun writing to her lover Abelard in the early 1100's.
A timely and nostalgic reference to a dying form of communication and literary art form.
My complete review here at Word by Word.
As the author writes this book, a great letter writer herself, her children are now grown and her son about to go to college, but we now live in an age of text messaging, instant chat, a more disposable form of communication that doesn't endure. Will she convince her son to write to her, the kind of letters she has appreciated herself?
She takes us on journey through a stack of published letters that have been preserved and published, introducing those interested in letters and the epistolary form, to a long list of books and references that speak of great love, erotic fantasy, a mother's love, a son's last words from the front and much more.
I enjoyed the book, though perhaps there were too many examples of short encounters and I could have easily been swept away by a more in-depth discovery of fewer pairs of letter writers.
The relationship between Gertrude Stein, Alice B.Toklas and Samuel Steward stands out, he wrote a letter to Gertrude Stein that was to become the beginning of a lifelong friendship, (interspersed with trips to Paris to see the women), much of it conducted through letters and when Gertrude died he and Alice continued to write for another 20 years until her death. Steward also wrote a journal, religiously writing notes every evening of all that had happened during the day, from which he penned his memoir Dear Sammy.
Ultimately, by referring to so many pairs of correspondence, we find there is something in here for everyone, whether it is from today, from our more recent history, or Heloise, a cloistered nun writing to her lover Abelard in the early 1100's.
A timely and nostalgic reference to a dying form of communication and literary art form.
My complete review here at Word by Word.
June 17, 2014
“We live in a postpostal age.” I enjoyed Sankovitch’s chronicle of a year of dedicated reading (Tolstoy and the Purple Chair). This, her second book, is a pleasant paean to the lost art of letter-writing. At the time of writing, she had just dropped off her oldest son at Harvard, and she rounds off nearly every chapter by expressing her faint hope that she will receive some letters from him. (“Dream on!” you might wish to say to the poor woman.) Although she acknowledges that e-mails or text messages are much more likely, she still holds out for a physical correspondence, for “Letters are the history of our lives made solid.”
The book is based loosely around the contents of two trunks. One is a green trunk full of her husband Jack’s love letters and the various cards and notes her children have given her over the years; “There have been times when I have needed reassurance that I am not floating out there alone in the universe, that I am tethered to people who will keep me secure. The letters offer that reassurance.”
The other was a steamer trunk they found in the shed of their former New York City row house. It was almost an unbelievable treasure trove, any history-lover’s dream. Most of the letters were from James Seligman to his mother. Seligman was a Princeton graduate and part of his family’s New York City dynasty of importers and investment bankers in the first decades of the twentieth century. He lived through an explosion in the J.P. Morgan building, commented on Teddy Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, and barely mentioned the death of his uncle on the Titanic. His letters are witty but matter-of-fact, rather deadpan in the postmodern style. It’s easy to see why Sankovitch was so intrigued by his one-sided correspondence.
When she attempts a thorough overview of the various purposes of the letter, however, the book can feel thin and formulaic. (I wonder if Simon Garfield’s To the Letter would be a better definitive history of letter-writing; I’ve been daunted by the sheer heft of his book but generally enjoy his style, in Just My Type, etc.) Chapters on letters of condolence and thank-you notes, agony aunt advice-seeking missives, and the use of letters as proof of crimes all dragged for me. I also thought she might have made much more of the history of the epistolary novel.
Sankovitch’s examples are by turns obvious and novel: a chapter on love letters foregrounds Abélard and Héloïse but also Rachel Carson’s correspondence with her longtime lover, Dorothy Freeman. (A second section on love letters, though – that was just too much.)
By far the best chapter highlights writers’ correspondence. Her main example is great fun: the letters that passed between Samuel Morris Steward, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Steward was a gay writer who became close with those unusual Parisian ladies; his letters often boasted of his sexual conquests. He may not have had his way with Rudolph Valentino, but he did get a lock of his pubic hair! It was interesting to learn that Stein did not punctuate her letters (boy, would that have been maddening!). This distinctive correspondence can be found in Dear Sammy.
The other best/worst bit of trivia I learned was that Franklin Pierce and family were in a train crash on their way to DC for him to take office in 1853. Thrown from the carriage, Pierce and his wife watched as their son was beheaded by the still-moving train. Pierce knew of what he spoke when he wrote a letter of condolence to Abraham Lincoln on the death of his son Willy nine years later.
I also particularly appreciated the (surprisingly good) advice F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to his daughter Scottie. He recommended she ask herself three questions: “What am I really aiming at? Do I really understand people? Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?” (A tubercular alcoholic, Fitzgerald would have done well to consider that final question himself.) His conclusion about what really matters still seems apt: “Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions those of defeat...the redeeming things are not ‘happiness and pleasure’ but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.”
You might want to dip in and out of this one; read all the way through, it can seem somewhat shallow and repetitive. Still, Sankovitch is an earnest tour guide through the art of letters.
Related reads:
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher
Paper: An Elegy by Ian Sansom
The book is based loosely around the contents of two trunks. One is a green trunk full of her husband Jack’s love letters and the various cards and notes her children have given her over the years; “There have been times when I have needed reassurance that I am not floating out there alone in the universe, that I am tethered to people who will keep me secure. The letters offer that reassurance.”
The other was a steamer trunk they found in the shed of their former New York City row house. It was almost an unbelievable treasure trove, any history-lover’s dream. Most of the letters were from James Seligman to his mother. Seligman was a Princeton graduate and part of his family’s New York City dynasty of importers and investment bankers in the first decades of the twentieth century. He lived through an explosion in the J.P. Morgan building, commented on Teddy Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, and barely mentioned the death of his uncle on the Titanic. His letters are witty but matter-of-fact, rather deadpan in the postmodern style. It’s easy to see why Sankovitch was so intrigued by his one-sided correspondence.
When she attempts a thorough overview of the various purposes of the letter, however, the book can feel thin and formulaic. (I wonder if Simon Garfield’s To the Letter would be a better definitive history of letter-writing; I’ve been daunted by the sheer heft of his book but generally enjoy his style, in Just My Type, etc.) Chapters on letters of condolence and thank-you notes, agony aunt advice-seeking missives, and the use of letters as proof of crimes all dragged for me. I also thought she might have made much more of the history of the epistolary novel.
Sankovitch’s examples are by turns obvious and novel: a chapter on love letters foregrounds Abélard and Héloïse but also Rachel Carson’s correspondence with her longtime lover, Dorothy Freeman. (A second section on love letters, though – that was just too much.)
By far the best chapter highlights writers’ correspondence. Her main example is great fun: the letters that passed between Samuel Morris Steward, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Steward was a gay writer who became close with those unusual Parisian ladies; his letters often boasted of his sexual conquests. He may not have had his way with Rudolph Valentino, but he did get a lock of his pubic hair! It was interesting to learn that Stein did not punctuate her letters (boy, would that have been maddening!). This distinctive correspondence can be found in Dear Sammy.
The other best/worst bit of trivia I learned was that Franklin Pierce and family were in a train crash on their way to DC for him to take office in 1853. Thrown from the carriage, Pierce and his wife watched as their son was beheaded by the still-moving train. Pierce knew of what he spoke when he wrote a letter of condolence to Abraham Lincoln on the death of his son Willy nine years later.
I also particularly appreciated the (surprisingly good) advice F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to his daughter Scottie. He recommended she ask herself three questions: “What am I really aiming at? Do I really understand people? Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?” (A tubercular alcoholic, Fitzgerald would have done well to consider that final question himself.) His conclusion about what really matters still seems apt: “Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions those of defeat...the redeeming things are not ‘happiness and pleasure’ but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.”
You might want to dip in and out of this one; read all the way through, it can seem somewhat shallow and repetitive. Still, Sankovitch is an earnest tour guide through the art of letters.
Related reads:
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher
Paper: An Elegy by Ian Sansom
December 8, 2014
When I was a kid, I had pen-pals all over the world. I used to love writing letters and I loved the act of placing them in the mailbox and raising the red flag to indicate there was outgoing mail. But what I really loved the most was receiving letters. I was always eager to read the contents so that I could immerse myself in that person's world. I still have one pen-pal from the many I had as a child. Thirty-two years later, we still write to one another.
People don't write letters anymore. And that's too bad. What Sankovitch celebrates here is the many ways letter writing is so different from texting, email and, by all means, twitter messages. The act of sitting to write a letter makes the writer pensive. A letter is private and can be relished over and over again. Words come easier when we know there will be a delayed response (unlike a text) that gives the receiver time to reflect upon the contents of the letter before writing back.
Sankovitch includes letters between lovers, spouses, fathers/son, mothers/daughters, loved ones that have passed and friends. It is a sweeping history of correspondence that spans various cultures and time periods.
I found this a quick and enjoyable read with a list of great books in the back as further reading.
People don't write letters anymore. And that's too bad. What Sankovitch celebrates here is the many ways letter writing is so different from texting, email and, by all means, twitter messages. The act of sitting to write a letter makes the writer pensive. A letter is private and can be relished over and over again. Words come easier when we know there will be a delayed response (unlike a text) that gives the receiver time to reflect upon the contents of the letter before writing back.
Sankovitch includes letters between lovers, spouses, fathers/son, mothers/daughters, loved ones that have passed and friends. It is a sweeping history of correspondence that spans various cultures and time periods.
I found this a quick and enjoyable read with a list of great books in the back as further reading.
June 12, 2014
On 2nd June 2014 the New York Times published a story entitled "What's Lost as Handwriting Fades" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/sci...). Having had exchanges with several friends and family members about handwriting, hand-written correspondence, and related matters, I've given this subject a fair amount of thought in recent months.
My very thoughtful wife found Signed, Sealed, Delivered in the local public library and borrowed it for me. I am grateful that she did. This book focuses on the contents of the correspondence that the author has studied, but it also makes the point that the act of writing out a piece of correspondence and sending it to the recipient creates a set of values that do not manifest themselves with digital communication.
I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand the impact of digital communication channels on our culture and on our relationships with one another.
July 1, 2014
Frankly, I wanted this book to be longer - to include more quotes from letters, particularly the real ones. various sections of the book interested me more that others. I loved the tale of James Seligman and how the author came across his letters in a trunk. The book made me want to start writing again, especially to my children, so I've decided to write them a birthday letter each instead of sending a card. Looking forward to volume 2, please!
August 23, 2014
As an avid letter-writer myself, of course I loved this book. Nina makes me wish I had kept all the letters I've ever gotten, but my friend Mary's letters would have filled several trunks alone. Loved this book!
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January 24, 2016As a child of the 60s, I was expected to write letters: thank you notes, bread and butter letters (go ask a 20-something if they know what those are), letters home from college when a long-distance phone call was reserved for catastrophic or highly-exciting-in-a-good-way news, and, my favorites--letters to my pen pal in New Zealand. I don't think I even came close to the expressive, meaningful, entertaining letters that Sankovitch presents in her delightfully written treatise on the art and impact of letter writing. She takes us on a journey of people's innermost feelings as they write home from the front to a beloved financée, or write fan letters to celebrities they'd love to meet, or pen mildly erotic love letters to the person they are already married to. We learn that people are idiosyncratic in their writing. The Lindbergh baby kidnapper was identified by his repeated use of misspelled words, his odd phrasing (he was not a born English speaker), and his penmanship.
The author expresses her deep conviction that personal letters are meant to be very private. So offering us a glimpse into the hearts of these letter writers seems a breach. But, she reassures us, most of the writers are long gone and their letters are parts of archived collections; or, if still alive, she's gotten the nod to share excerpts. Will we start dashing off snail-mail letters to each other ever again? Unlikely, I say, with emails and texts abounding. But a small part of me still gets a hankering to drop someone a line when I come upon my one and only box of good stationery buried in my desk drawer. I just might do it someday, too!
(Barbara L., Reader's Services)
The author expresses her deep conviction that personal letters are meant to be very private. So offering us a glimpse into the hearts of these letter writers seems a breach. But, she reassures us, most of the writers are long gone and their letters are parts of archived collections; or, if still alive, she's gotten the nod to share excerpts. Will we start dashing off snail-mail letters to each other ever again? Unlikely, I say, with emails and texts abounding. But a small part of me still gets a hankering to drop someone a line when I come upon my one and only box of good stationery buried in my desk drawer. I just might do it someday, too!
(Barbara L., Reader's Services)
May 1, 2014
Do you like to write letters? Do you love to read old letters? Then I recommend Nina Sankovitch's new book "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". Nina's book is about the history of letter writing from ancient egyptians, to medieval lovers, to the letters President Lincoln received after his son's death, to present day tv shows that include letters in their story line.
July 9, 2016
Not limited to tantalizing tales of forbidden love or secret affairs, Signed, Sealed, Delivered reviews letters of friendship, threat, condolence, advice, parenting, and more. A testament to the intimacy of a handwritten letter and the legacy of written word. A joy to read for its inclusion of letters that span the centuries.
July 25, 2014
Loved her passion and love for letters and letter writing. She quoted from many famous letter writers both living and dead, which opened my eyes to all kinds of new people to read about---thru their letters of course.
September 29, 2014
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED by Nina Sankovitch is a love letter in itself. In the span of 200 hundred pages Ms. Sankovitch has managed to evoke the essence of what a hand written letter truly is.
She talks first about the stash of letters found upon buying her home. These, between a mother and a son, tell of a young boy growing up, on into college and into his real life. Never meant for any person but the one written to, these letters transcend the ages while revealing a great deal about there times.
There are letters to advice columnists that she traces back to the Oracle of Delphi and the request for advice, natural or supernatural.
She also writes about the greatest letters of all: the letters between lovers. Be they man and wife or forbidden loves, the burning passages manage to leap over space, and now time, to reveal the depths of passion felt.
But the greatest miracle of the letter is its durability. The written word can remain for ages, is very portable, and can instill within the reader a depth of feeling and emotion that our sorry little e-mail society just cannot.
I have the letters that I wrote to my mother when I was away in the military. She saved each one and when I made it home she combined those with the letters she had written to me. Combined, the letters tell a compelling history of that turbulent time and the places I was at. Now at a much older age, I can bring perspective to those writings and read between the lines.
These small missives from another time and place are irreplaceable in learning more about who and what I was. And they tell me far more about my mother than I knew then or have the ability to directly learn now as they have outlived her.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED is a lovely, transforming piece of work that should compel the reader to put pen to paper and add to history.
I won this marvelous book through Goodreads.
She talks first about the stash of letters found upon buying her home. These, between a mother and a son, tell of a young boy growing up, on into college and into his real life. Never meant for any person but the one written to, these letters transcend the ages while revealing a great deal about there times.
There are letters to advice columnists that she traces back to the Oracle of Delphi and the request for advice, natural or supernatural.
She also writes about the greatest letters of all: the letters between lovers. Be they man and wife or forbidden loves, the burning passages manage to leap over space, and now time, to reveal the depths of passion felt.
But the greatest miracle of the letter is its durability. The written word can remain for ages, is very portable, and can instill within the reader a depth of feeling and emotion that our sorry little e-mail society just cannot.
I have the letters that I wrote to my mother when I was away in the military. She saved each one and when I made it home she combined those with the letters she had written to me. Combined, the letters tell a compelling history of that turbulent time and the places I was at. Now at a much older age, I can bring perspective to those writings and read between the lines.
These small missives from another time and place are irreplaceable in learning more about who and what I was. And they tell me far more about my mother than I knew then or have the ability to directly learn now as they have outlived her.
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED is a lovely, transforming piece of work that should compel the reader to put pen to paper and add to history.
I won this marvelous book through Goodreads.
October 2, 2014
This book was not what I had expected. I honestly though that this would be full of sediment and with lack of interesting facts. But I was as far from the truth as I could have been. Every chapter had at least two historical stories supporting why letter writing was and is a treasured item and past time. These stories include how Jack the Ripper’s letters to the enforcement were analyzed to compare the handwriting but were never prohibited in the court room, to condolence letters to President Lincoln and his wife over the death of their son. As well as, many more intriguing stories. I will admit that some chapters had an overabundance of stories to support her points.
I was quite impressed with the level of detail the Nina put into the book cover, Table of Contents, font used and the way of chose to layout the book. The book jacket purposely look like an old envelope, and the fonts used in the Table of contents look like script and a typewriter tying into the whole letter theme. The pages were laid out to look like a bunch of loose papers instead of a cleanly cut book.
In short I found a surprising pleasure in this book. It even motivated me think about writing to my grandmother and start scrap booking again. I highly recommend anyone to read this; I enjoyed Nina’s storytelling capabilities that took this subject to the level of enjoyment.
DISCLAIMER: I received this book free of charge from Goodreads FirstReads giveaway in exchange for my unbiased review of it. All opinions are mine and were not coerced upon me to provide a favorable review.
I was quite impressed with the level of detail the Nina put into the book cover, Table of Contents, font used and the way of chose to layout the book. The book jacket purposely look like an old envelope, and the fonts used in the Table of contents look like script and a typewriter tying into the whole letter theme. The pages were laid out to look like a bunch of loose papers instead of a cleanly cut book.
In short I found a surprising pleasure in this book. It even motivated me think about writing to my grandmother and start scrap booking again. I highly recommend anyone to read this; I enjoyed Nina’s storytelling capabilities that took this subject to the level of enjoyment.
DISCLAIMER: I received this book free of charge from Goodreads FirstReads giveaway in exchange for my unbiased review of it. All opinions are mine and were not coerced upon me to provide a favorable review.
September 22, 2014
Enjoyable. And includes Iowa State University's letter of Jack Trice!
But I wanted more... I wanted a letter. (xiii)
Even if those people are gone, the bind endures through the tokens of connection we passed back and forth, the written manifestation of our relationship (22)
The parts of their lives that Shields and Howard did share with each other were those parts especially chosen, one for the other, and very specially communicated. By letter. (64)
It is the distance between them that allows her the space to write fully - and for that she is thankful. (122)
A written letter allows me both to notice the happening and to record it. To understand it perhaps a bit more by writing about it, and then to pass on what I've noticed through my writing. (131)
For me, the silence of space is the time that passes between letters sent and received. It is the place of living, of experience and emotion, a space for solitary thought. Yet the sympathy of the other heart is always there, in the letters I write and in the ones I wait for. (139)
Presence is inferred in the word "stationery" and permanence is as well. (162)
Writing a letter is... absolute faith that what I write will travel across miles and bring me close to the one I write to (195)
But I wanted more... I wanted a letter. (xiii)
Even if those people are gone, the bind endures through the tokens of connection we passed back and forth, the written manifestation of our relationship (22)
The parts of their lives that Shields and Howard did share with each other were those parts especially chosen, one for the other, and very specially communicated. By letter. (64)
It is the distance between them that allows her the space to write fully - and for that she is thankful. (122)
A written letter allows me both to notice the happening and to record it. To understand it perhaps a bit more by writing about it, and then to pass on what I've noticed through my writing. (131)
For me, the silence of space is the time that passes between letters sent and received. It is the place of living, of experience and emotion, a space for solitary thought. Yet the sympathy of the other heart is always there, in the letters I write and in the ones I wait for. (139)
Presence is inferred in the word "stationery" and permanence is as well. (162)
Writing a letter is... absolute faith that what I write will travel across miles and bring me close to the one I write to (195)
August 13, 2014
SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED has renewed my interest in letter writing. I want to send letters home from college now, not just texts and phone calls. I have two high school friends who I write letters to while in school, and my mom sends weekly notes to me and my four closest high school friends. But I want to do more, to write long letters that I'll want to look back at years from now.
A mix of Sankovitch's personal journey with letters and the history of letter writing and famous letter writers, the narrative was sometimes a little disjointed. I liked how Sankovitch broke up the chapters by theme, but within the chapters I sometimes felt like she needed more section breaks. She'd sometimes describe 5 different letter writers in one section, with nothing but paragraph breaks to separate them. I suppose I'm used to each section focusing on one theme/person/subject, so it sometimes felt like there was too much information being thrown at me.
A little repetitive in her thoughts on the power of letter writing, this was, nonetheless, a fun read.
A mix of Sankovitch's personal journey with letters and the history of letter writing and famous letter writers, the narrative was sometimes a little disjointed. I liked how Sankovitch broke up the chapters by theme, but within the chapters I sometimes felt like she needed more section breaks. She'd sometimes describe 5 different letter writers in one section, with nothing but paragraph breaks to separate them. I suppose I'm used to each section focusing on one theme/person/subject, so it sometimes felt like there was too much information being thrown at me.
A little repetitive in her thoughts on the power of letter writing, this was, nonetheless, a fun read.
April 30, 2015
Being a fan of Nina Sankovitch and her book Tolstoy and the Purple chair, I preordered Signed, Sealed and Delivered. The book arrived in the middle of a late April snowstorm that had made me scream, enough already as I skidded towards the mailbox. The happy delivery of this book changed my mood immediately. I had no choice but to pour a cup of tea and sit on the sofa to begin reading this celebration of letter writing.
I learned the importance of "time between the letters", time where news was made that would be the subject of a future response.
I also appreciated the description of her writing to her son now away at college. I start a circle and invite its completion. And in that half finished circle Peter and I are together. If he writes back, the circle is complete. But even if he doesn't write back to me, the arc is there, the shape of a mother's arm curved around her child.
I learned the importance of "time between the letters", time where news was made that would be the subject of a future response.
I also appreciated the description of her writing to her son now away at college. I start a circle and invite its completion. And in that half finished circle Peter and I are together. If he writes back, the circle is complete. But even if he doesn't write back to me, the arc is there, the shape of a mother's arm curved around her child.
August 12, 2016
Letter writing is dying fast and Sankovitch has written a fitting and entertaining tribute. She discovered some fascinating correspondence in a trunk buried in the yard of a home she purchased. This led to doing research on other letters that interested her. She found love letters as well as letters from soldiers, her own letters and those of family members and even letters in epistolary novels. I sometimes wanted longer excerpts of what she shared, but excellent background and a complete bibliography will allow the reader to pursue the originals sources.
June 10, 2014
Part memoir and part history of letters, Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a lovely, light book, less in-depth than Simon Garfield's To The Letter, but equally (if not more) enjoyable. The author writes about a cache of letters she found in a trunk when her family bought a house in New York, mostly from a young man to his mother; she also writes about her correspondence with her children, especially her oldest son, who has just gone off to college. For those who have even the faintest interest in or nostalgia for letter-writing, this is a perfect book.
September 24, 2014
I really enjoyed this book, so much so, that immediately borrowed the author's earlier book (Tolstoy and the Purple Chair) from the library. Sankovich ponders the importance of handwritten letters, which is quickly becoming a lost art. She explores letters written throughout history, everything from ancient Egypt, Abraham Lincoln's letter of condolence to a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War, letters written by soldiers, authors, and everything in-between. Sankovich tells us that letters form a bond with persons past and present. They build a bridge across time and space.
May 28, 2014
I found Nina's book a wonderful tribute to the joys of writing and receiving letters. During and after reading, I went back and looked through treasured letters that I have received from people I love. It made me so glad that my sentimentality in saving these letters won out over my practicality of cleaning out unwanted things.
May 4, 2014
The lovely letter, celebrated beautifully. Very interesting read. Check out my full review at www.compassbookratings.com
May 1, 2014
A wonderful trip down memory lane! More on http://bookwinked.wordpress.com
May 26, 2014
This book remained me of why I miss writing snail mail letters. Nicely done and worth reading for anyone who wants to be reminded of why words on real paper can be so precious.
November 20, 2014
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
July 8, 2017
Signed, Sealed, Delivered begins with Ms. Sankovitch’s discovery of an old steamer trunk she finds in her backyard which holds hundred year old letters written by a Princeton freshman, James Seligman, to his mother in the early 1900s.
These letters are fascinating, as he reports on an explosion in the J.P. Morgan building, comments on Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, and the death of his uncle on the Titanic. His letters are dry and acerbic, but filled with details.
Ms. Sankovitch’s book goes on explore the history of letter writing and we get to read correspondences ranging from the ancient Egyptians, to medieval lovers, to letters exchanged between Samuel Morris Steward, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas — the latter, some racy and fun reading.
Her section on the letters President Lincoln received after his son’s, Willy’s, death, revealed a rare bit of history. Franklin Pierce and family were in a train crash on their way to Washington DC to take office in 1853. Thrown from the carriage, Pierce and his wife watched helplessly as their son was hit and killed by the still-moving train. Pierce was writing from his own similar experience when he penned his heartfelt condolences to Abraham Lincoln.
Ms. Sankovitch interweaves her own experiences and correspondences with well-researched accounts of other letter writers in history. I love to read other’s correspondence, peeking into their day-to-day lives, hopes, and dreams.
The book is a love story to the lost art of letter writing, a wonderful way to glimpse into history and relationships — all revealed through letters:
“A written letter is a one-of-a-kind document, a moment in time caught on paper, thoughts recorded and sent on, a single message to a special recipient.”
“Sir, more than Kisses, letters mingle souls. For thus, friends absent speak” John Donne, “To Sir Henry Wollow”
Ms. Sankovitch’s own son is heading off to Harvard, and she hopes that he will write to her, as the Princeton student wrote to his mother and as Nina wrote to hers — but she knows she will have to settle for emails or text messages.
“Yes, I am waiting for an answer to my letter but waiting is not my main activity. To be dependent on e-mail and text is to have access to immediate response — but diminishes the rich opportunities that come from living with delayed gratification. For so much happens in the delay.”
This book made me think about future generations. Somehow, I suspect that no one is saving emails and text messages in old trunks. Without letters — from those who made history, shared their love for each other or, just reported on their routine lives — how will we know those long dead? See more at http://www.bookbarmy.com
These letters are fascinating, as he reports on an explosion in the J.P. Morgan building, comments on Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, and the death of his uncle on the Titanic. His letters are dry and acerbic, but filled with details.
Ms. Sankovitch’s book goes on explore the history of letter writing and we get to read correspondences ranging from the ancient Egyptians, to medieval lovers, to letters exchanged between Samuel Morris Steward, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas — the latter, some racy and fun reading.
Her section on the letters President Lincoln received after his son’s, Willy’s, death, revealed a rare bit of history. Franklin Pierce and family were in a train crash on their way to Washington DC to take office in 1853. Thrown from the carriage, Pierce and his wife watched helplessly as their son was hit and killed by the still-moving train. Pierce was writing from his own similar experience when he penned his heartfelt condolences to Abraham Lincoln.
Ms. Sankovitch interweaves her own experiences and correspondences with well-researched accounts of other letter writers in history. I love to read other’s correspondence, peeking into their day-to-day lives, hopes, and dreams.
The book is a love story to the lost art of letter writing, a wonderful way to glimpse into history and relationships — all revealed through letters:
“A written letter is a one-of-a-kind document, a moment in time caught on paper, thoughts recorded and sent on, a single message to a special recipient.”
“Sir, more than Kisses, letters mingle souls. For thus, friends absent speak” John Donne, “To Sir Henry Wollow”
Ms. Sankovitch’s own son is heading off to Harvard, and she hopes that he will write to her, as the Princeton student wrote to his mother and as Nina wrote to hers — but she knows she will have to settle for emails or text messages.
“Yes, I am waiting for an answer to my letter but waiting is not my main activity. To be dependent on e-mail and text is to have access to immediate response — but diminishes the rich opportunities that come from living with delayed gratification. For so much happens in the delay.”
This book made me think about future generations. Somehow, I suspect that no one is saving emails and text messages in old trunks. Without letters — from those who made history, shared their love for each other or, just reported on their routine lives — how will we know those long dead? See more at http://www.bookbarmy.com
October 12, 2022
Spurred by her discovery of century-old letters from a Princeton freshman to his mother (found in an old steamer trunk left in the NYC fixer upper she and her husband purchased), author Nina Sankovitch writes an informal history of letter writing throughout time, pondering on the many different ways it seems to affect the human psyche.
Some of the more notable historical topics she covers:
* Edward Gorey's affinity for decorating envelopes with original illustrations
* JD Salinger's habit of wooing women through letters and then tending to run the relationship into the ground shortly thereafter (the Joyce Maynard era, for example)
* crime investigations such as the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the Jack the Ripper murders
* letters between Lord HH Asquith (once Prime Minister and great-grandfather of actress Helena Bonham-Carter) and Venetia Stanley, a great aunt of one of Nina Sankovitch's neighbors / friends, Charles Stanley
* weirdly, for a book about letter writing, Sankovitch does place a frequent spotlight on the sexual preferences of Sam Steward
* the origins of the epistolary novel, dating back to the 14th century, as well as the 1920s origin story of the phrase "I'd love to be a fly on the wall..."
*heartbreaking letters left pinned to infants reluctantly left at doorsteps of "foundling hospitals" or "orphan asylums"
And naturally, she also covers the story of the mostly letter-based love story of 12th century taboo hookup couple, Heloise and Abelard
Overall, there's some entertaining stories throughout history she covers, but when considering the subtitle of this book, this just didn't strike me as a cohesive collection of topics, but more rambly and all over the place.
That said, I did love the bit towards the end where she talks about the great dad advice F. Scott Fitzgerald writes to his daughter, namely: "You have got two beautiful bad examples for parents. Just do everything we didn't do and you will be perfectly safe." 😄... as well as the heartwarming story of the deep love Louisa May Alcott had for her niece / adopted daughter LuLu.
Some of the more notable historical topics she covers:
* Edward Gorey's affinity for decorating envelopes with original illustrations
* JD Salinger's habit of wooing women through letters and then tending to run the relationship into the ground shortly thereafter (the Joyce Maynard era, for example)
* crime investigations such as the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the Jack the Ripper murders
* letters between Lord HH Asquith (once Prime Minister and great-grandfather of actress Helena Bonham-Carter) and Venetia Stanley, a great aunt of one of Nina Sankovitch's neighbors / friends, Charles Stanley
* weirdly, for a book about letter writing, Sankovitch does place a frequent spotlight on the sexual preferences of Sam Steward
* the origins of the epistolary novel, dating back to the 14th century, as well as the 1920s origin story of the phrase "I'd love to be a fly on the wall..."
*heartbreaking letters left pinned to infants reluctantly left at doorsteps of "foundling hospitals" or "orphan asylums"
And naturally, she also covers the story of the mostly letter-based love story of 12th century taboo hookup couple, Heloise and Abelard
Overall, there's some entertaining stories throughout history she covers, but when considering the subtitle of this book, this just didn't strike me as a cohesive collection of topics, but more rambly and all over the place.
That said, I did love the bit towards the end where she talks about the great dad advice F. Scott Fitzgerald writes to his daughter, namely: "You have got two beautiful bad examples for parents. Just do everything we didn't do and you will be perfectly safe." 😄... as well as the heartwarming story of the deep love Louisa May Alcott had for her niece / adopted daughter LuLu.
October 16, 2019
This book was quite a let down. What could have been a really interesting history of letter writing or meditation on the act of letter writing was mostly quotes from letters strung together by pat observations and repetitious comments. Also she implies that the mother of a dead soldier will find comfort in the immortality of his letters and tells the reader details of the letters written to her by her husband and my her son to the mother of his dead classmate. While it seems fascinating to read the letters of remarkable people from older generations it feels downright weird to read letters where both recipients are still alive and the letters were not written with the intention of wider distribution.
I feel like this got published not because the author actually had anything to say but because she got a 2 book deal. This could have been a charming essay instead.
I feel like this got published not because the author actually had anything to say but because she got a 2 book deal. This could have been a charming essay instead.
January 3, 2022
This would have made a really interesting essay or magazine article but as a book it's too much. Sankovitch has so many vignettes and examples of written correspondence, that it becomes redundant. How many ways can you say the same thing? Paper letters, sent through the mail, are meaningful in a way that texts and emails aren't. Many, many ways, and she's going to give you several examples for each. We are missing a valued part of communication when we don't write letters. I believe people felt the same way when the telephone became popular.
April 4, 2020
This was a pretty good book. I thought there would be more of actual letters in it though. It did it’s jobs in making me want to write letters to loved one. I felt as though the want to convince me letters were important got repetitive by the end however. She made wonderful points then weirdly doubled back without acknowledgement about that doubling at the end. It was a sound argument for letter writing and inspired me nonetheless.
March 9, 2019
An inspiring read! A look at letters throughout history to and from important people and others not so important. Yet, even the not so important live on through their letters.
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