Letter Library is a subscription service that mails you reproductions of historical letters. The letters are sourced from archives around the world and cover many time periods. Recently the founder of Letter Library, Luca Bares, reached out to me to ask if I would like to review his service on my blog.

My Experience

A subscription to Letter Library entails receiving two letters every month. Luca sent me four letters to review.

1. Abigail Adams to John Adams reminding him to “remember the ladies” (March 31, 1776)
2. Beethoven to his brothers about his deafness and despair (October 6, 1802)
3. Thomas Paine’s letter to a friend about his views against religion (August 15, 1806)
4. Albert Einstein to Franklin Roosevelt about the possibility of building an atomic bomb (August 2, 1939)

Each reproduction is printed in an imitation of the original handwriting on paper that is made to look aged. A transcript accompanies each handwritten letter. Finally a synopsis is included to give historical context and show the importance of that particular letter. The envelopes, the paper, and the fonts are well chosen. I came across a few typos, but Luca told me he is actively looking for an editor to eliminate those.

I enjoyed receiving a broad sample of letters. My favourite was the letter by German composer Ludwig von Beethoven. Since I’d never read anything written by him I appreciated hearing his experience and feelings in his own words.

“But what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone standing next to me heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life. It was only my art that held me back. Oh, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had forth all that I felt was within me.”

The accompanying synopsis provided biographical information on Beethoven and referenced other letters he wrote around the same time.

Q&A with Luca Bares

How did you come up with the idea for Letter Library?
I’d come up with the idea after reading quite a few letters in the biographies I was reading and after coming across a brilliant resource called the Founders Archive. It’s a digitized set of 180,000 letters sent from the United States Founding Fathers as a project run by National Historical Publications and Records Commission. I read through many letters as I researched history and it was clear how valuable a resource they are for understanding history. As a history lover myself I wanted to come up with a way to share some of the fantastic letters I was reading which is why I created Letter Library. It’s been a fantastic way to share history through letters, particularly as I’ve found more and more letters from different time periods and characters.

What is your academic background and/or career?
I went to college for Business Administration, but over time my career has gone into the direction of technology. I now work on an engineering team for a larger corporation. Unfortunately, though, my full time work is not history related. However, I’m always deeply interested in history and I’ve put my nose in some biography or history book whenever I’ve been able to to stay sharp.

Where do you find the letters?
The more you research history the more you’ll find that letters are everywhere. I read a lot of biography so in many cases I’ll find interesting letters in books I’m reading which I’ll track down the full transcripts for later. I also mentioned the Founders Archive which is another place I can find letters, but it’s such a large repository I usually have what I’m looking for in mind before searching. Apart from those, most historical societies do their best to save and document letters so they’re another great place to find great letters.

Do you do all the research yourself?
Yes, but the research is the fun part! That’s where I get to learn what some of these characters of history were like and some of what happened in their day to day lives. I’ve learned a lot about specific figures through reading and researching letters. Many figures like George Washington or Winston Churchill are held up so high it’s hard to feel like they’re real people, but after reading some of their letters it’s much clearer that they’re just like anyone else.

Do you have a favourite time period or historical event?
I’m a big fan of the American Revolution and the Enlightenment period. This time period is when humanity really starts making progress in my opinion. After the middle ages we start to get some new, radical ideas around math, science, human rights, and just about any other subject you can think of.

What is one of your favourite letters?
I recently sent this letter out to my subscribers, but it’s a letter from President Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Adams. Jefferson sends this letter a few days after his inauguration as President many years of not hearing from Adams himself. In it he says that he dedicated his inaugural address to Samuel Adams because of how important he was to the American Revolution and his contribution is not something Jefferson will ever forget. It’s an incredible letter because it says a lot about Jefferson’s admiration for Adams, particularly when most Americans today (myself included) probably don’t give Samuel Adams nearly as much credit as he deserves in relation to his contemporaries.

Do you enjoy writing letters personally?
Of the few I’ve written personally it has been fun, but most of the time I contact people using my plain, old smartphone. Here and there I do get the opportunity to send a personal, hand written letter to a subscriber for special cases and that’s always enjoyable. There’s something about the combination of pen and paper which text on a screen just can’t beat.

Conclusion

I recommend this subscription service to anyone who would get a kick out of receiving a historical letter in the mail. It would be a fun gift for anyone interested in history, especially those with broad interests who don’t always have the time or inclination to read long history books. It’s a great idea for someone who is stuck at home and misses visiting museums and historical sites. I also recommend Letter Library for high school students; they would have the fun of getting mail and they could use the letters to consider historical issues or as a starting point for a school assignment.

If you know anyone interested in historical letters, please share this blog post!

Full disclosure: Luca Bares sent me two month’s worth of letters in exchange for an honest review of his subscription service.