Tiny Well Wishes: An Introduction to my Letter Collection

One of my most exciting finds is an early 19th century writing desk, stuffed with a Tardis-worth of letters, certificates and annotated books. Looking through and transcribing these conversations between the different family members, I came across a tiny little envelope made from excess writing paper. 

The Envelope

Whilst every letter contained fascinating snippets of information- injuries, family dramas, personal opinions on living situations, women's work and more- this one puzzled me. The size of a penny and inscribed with the name and address of one of the desk's owners, Eliza Watford, it only contained three words "NAME THE DAY". Quite the mystery for sure. 

To make things even more peculiar, the top right corner of the envelope had a small piece of a Penny Red stamp stuck onto it. These stamps were introduced in 1841 and were incredibly popular with some 21 billion stamps being printed during its run (1), revolutionising the way people communicated by making it cheaper and more accessible. Even in my own small collection, the only letter I have previous to the establishment of the Uniform Penny Post in 1840 is a highly elegant and formal script informing the family of the passing of their mother. Decades following its introduction, these letters cover the weather, daily aches, gossip and self-reflections.

For this family of servants and bakers, the Post was clearly a radical change to their communications with each other. 

This card, highly unlikely to have been sent formally (at least by itself!) seems to me to embody this sense of whimsy and personal engagement with letters that we see increasingly as the century continues. It was an engagement that was a more accessible and valued part of Victorian British life; indeed, even when the longer letters discussed going without food due to lack of money and work, they were still sent, demonstrating the value placed on communication.

The Card

Studies on the 19th century interest in the miniature are considerable, with many focusing on different produced art forms: painting, books and photography being some of the most prevalent. However, this card transects the binary between externally produced miniatures such as the bibles, literature and poetry that feature heavily in Louis W. Bondy's book Miniature Books (2), and domestic handicraft explored by Talia Schaffer in Novel Craft (3). Indeed, Schaffer notes that crafts from elaborate centre pieces to paper collage meant, among many things, "salvaging worthless debris, but...establishing incalculable sentimental value" (4). 

Here, we see this idea in action. Writing paper that is marked with ink splodges has been turned, upcycled if you will, into a delicate card with printed flower and a message for the reader: "NAME THE DAY". The phrase likely correlates to an event, typically a wedding and is often still in use today. Also, the clumsily cut out flower bears similarity to a pink or faded red tulip, generally associated at the time with love and passion (5), thus supporting the idea of the card being of a romantic nature. 

Regardless of the specific event it is attached to, the card combines a number of interesting elements of the era: sentimentality, home crafts, miniatures, reuse of materials and changing attitudes towards posting letters.

It is also another fascinating piece demonstrating the multiple life-cycles of objects (6). Despite its size and uneven craftsmanship, the card was treasured enough to remain in largely pristine quality within the writing desk of its subsequent owners for the last 150 plus years. Whilst the envelopes of letters carrying news of a relative's death or even formal documents lay strewn, cut up or missing entirely, this tiny treasure remained safe and enclosed, waiting to be reopened again and again by those who would remember it.

1) "Your Guide to Penny Red Stamps", AllAboutStamps (2021), https://www.allaboutstamps.co.uk/stamp-guides/penny-red-stamp/.

2) Bondy, Louis W., Miniature Books: their history from the beginnings to the present day (London: Sheppard Press, 1981).

3) Schaffer, Talia, Novel Craft: Victorian Domestic Handicraft and Nineteenth-Century Fiction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

4) Ibid, p.9.

5) Greenaway, Kate, Language of Flowers (London: Routledge and Sons, 1884), p.41. 

6) Trentmann, Frank, "Materiality in the Future of History: Things, Practices, and Politics", The Journal of British Studies (2009), Vol.48(2), pp.283-307.