In the Summer 2024 issue of Hand Papermaking, we look to letters and the many forms they can take on paper.

Letters can be deeply intimate affairs, hand-scribed, ink on paper, generally intended for a small audience. They might contain timely observations about the weather, relatives, politics, neighbors; travel notes from places far from home; or deep expression of love or grief—all not intended for public consumption.

When personal correspondence makes its way into the public realm, we get a glimpse of the interior world of the letter writer and their addressee. And the sheet of paper on which the letter is written becomes a letter itself. Papermakers, historians, and conservators “read” extant papers from the past to access clues about their production, their uses, and the humans involved.

Contributors to this issue include Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes, Hanne Frey Husø, Angela Dufresne, sadé powell, Catherine Nash, Katie MacGregor, Keren Alfred, Michael Durgin, and James Ojascastro.  

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