The Handwritten Holidays

BY HANDWRITTEN

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott states that Monday is the worst day to write, and that December is a month of Mondays. While it is about the external elements (the shortened days, raging rivers of street slush, broken radiators, etc), the struggle takes place indoors, or, inside the mind. Emily Dickinson used to refer to these nights as "evenings of the brain."  

This year, we were prepared. We purchased a sunset lamp, a crock pot, and, hiding throughout the apartment, we've stashed unopened bottles of Two Buck Chuck. #grapesofwrath

Speaking of books, that is really how we get through December, and the rest of the winter months. With a little bit of time away from work, we'll soon be retreating to the woods with a stack of books, blank journals, envelopes, and stamps. We thought to share with you some of the things we'll be bringing with us. First are a few titles that have little to do with "handwriting" per se, but speak directly to us as hand-writers, for they address the thin lines between great divides:

For those of you who want to jump into the deep-end of the handwriting pool, these are some great diving boards. Two notes: first, we highly encourage you to pair together Brencher's memoir with her letter writing stationery kit, as we heart everything she does; and second, The Assassin's Cloak anthology is particularly wild because it's organized by date, and so for a big chunk of our last year, we would read the entries from each day in the morning to get us going. February 6th was particularly enlightening, as there were entries from 1769, 1881, 1922 and 1941. 

If you're looking for a gift, we recommend the below art objects. Inspiration is guaranteed. Whenever we feel a little bit of pressure mounting, we crack open these covers, get lost in their letters, and a few daydreams later, we're back to the page. 

Lastly, if you're looking for something to write in, here are three ideas to get you, or someone you know, writing: 

The medium-sized hardcover notebooks from Leuchtturm are a new favorite of ours — and not just because their cheerful, mod two-tone covers (“biColore”) are an antidote to the winter grays. With numbered pages, a table of contents, and supplemental stickers for archiving and organizing, you feel like you’re writing a real book as you scribble towards the 249th page finish line — which is some 100 pages longer than most similar style journals. There’s a gusseted pocket for stowing paper ephemera, and an elastic band to keep your words tucked in at night. 

The Shinola Detroit notebooks are manufactured by Edwards Brothers Malloy — a family-run printing business that has made books and journals since 1893, and which employs more than 900 people in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As their mission statement goes, Shinola respect the evolving nature and power of the handwritten word, and aim to "uphold the art of putting pen to pad and preserving communication.” The Smyth sewn binding method used not only allows your notebook to lie flat when open, but it increases its life expectancy and durability. They come in a bunch of different sizes, colors, and material groups — the linen options being the best to cuddle up to. 

But if completion is important to you, then check out the sketchbooks from our partner in the pen, The Sketchbook Project. You have one year to complete this blank little book. Though, time is running out, so click your way into a great activity by checking out their offerings on their site.

Lastly, Happy Holidays, everyone. Stay safe, keep the beautiful pen busy, and be in touch.

An Unsayable Inscription

BY SARAH MADGES

I can't remember the occasion, but one day my then-boyfriend Chris gave me this copy of Rainer Maria Rilke's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke. (The Way of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke). I'm a huge germanophone, not to mention a lover of Rilke's poetry, so the present would've wowed me without it being a weathered copy from 1954. Correction: without it being a weathered copy from 1954 typeset in German "Kurrentschrift" — the term for the beautiful script that was still standard in 20th century — along with handwritten annotations from previous owners. 

At least two people owned this book before it reached my hands--on the inside cover there is an address sticker and small inscription from a Dr. Spiros Valentinus with an address in Frankurt Am Mein in Germany. The page just before the title page also includes a handwritten dedication in looser and larger felt penmanship that says "Eine kleine Erinnerung an unsern Abscheid am 4. November 1954. Möge Dir dieses Buch scheid bedeuten, wie es mir gibt. Deine, Inge." (Translation: "A small memory from our departure on November 4, 1954. May this book mean as much to you as it does to me. Sincerely, Inge")

I'm not sure which former owner pasted in the film review from an old German newspaper, but it required careful craftmanship, with columns clipped and formatted to fold out of the book in printed order, accordion-style. Apparently the clipping comes from "Main Post", Saturday December 7, 1955, and discusses the film adaptation of this book. 

Should anyone else get a hold of this book after me, they'll notice a third owner by virtue of Chris's slight alteration of the dedication page. He crossed out the "e" in "Deine" to indicate the masculine possessive: yours, and wrote in his name over poor Inge's, to indicate the gift was now for me.