Letters of Note

Letters of Note is a site that publishes correspondence of well-known people from history. The list includes people like author John Steinbeck, photographer Ansel Adams, scientist Albert Einstein, and editor/writer H.L. Mencken.

The selections are all great and worth reading. What I find most interesting is how good the writing is, regardless of the author’s profession. I wonder if we’d find that the correspondence of today’s celebrities is nearly so lucid and deep?

H.L. Mencken’s response to an aspiring magazine editor is classic:

Dear Saroyan,

I note what you say about your aspiration to edit a magazine. I am sending you by this mail a six-chambered revolver. Load it and fire every one into your head. You will thank me after you get to hell and learn from other editors there how dreadful their job was on earth.

(Signed, ‘H.L. Mencken’)

Classic.