CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
1
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of
by Mary Owens Crowther
The Project Gutenberg EBook of How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of
Letters), by Mary Owens Crowther This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost

WHAT IS A LETTER? 1
CHAPTER I 4
CHAPTER II
THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER 6
CHAPTER II 5
CHAPTER III
THE PARTS OF A LETTER 1. THE HEADING 10 2. THE INSIDE ADDRESS 12 3. THE SALUTATION
16 4. THE BODY OF THE LETTER 22 5. THE COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE 26 6. THE SIGNATURE 29
7. THE SUPERSCRIPTION 33
CHAPTER III 6
CHAPTER IV
BEING APPROPRIATE WHAT TO AVOID COMMON OFFENSES 36 STOCK PHRASES IN
BUSINESS LETTERS 38
CHAPTER IV 7
CHAPTER V
PERSONAL LETTERS SOCIAL AND FRIENDLY INVITATIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 44
THE LETTER OF CONDOLENCE 91 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY IN CASE OF ILLNESS 95 LETTERS
OF CONGRATULATION 101 LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION 107 LETTERS OF THANKS 110
LETTERS BETWEEN FRIENDS 118
CHAPTER V 8
CHAPTER VI
PERSONAL BUSINESS LETTERS 124
CHAPTER VI 9
CHAPTER VII
THE BUSINESS LETTER 135 SALES AND ANNOUNCEMENT LETTERS 146 KEEPING THE
CUSTOMER 160 SELLING REAL ESTATE 163 BANK LETTERS 173 LETTERS OF ORDER AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 182 LETTERS OF COMPLAINT AND ADJUSTMENT 186 CREDIT
AND COLLECTION LETTERS 193 LETTERS OF APPLICATION 211 LETTERS OF REFERENCE 217
LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION 220 LETTERS OF INQUIRY 223
CHAPTER VII 10

Specimens of formal invitations "to meet" 63
Specimens of formal invitations to a dance 68
Specimens of business letterheads 140
Arrangement of a business letter (block form) 144
Arrangement of a business letter (indented form) 145
Specimens of business letterheads used by English firms 207
Specimens of addressed social stationery 259
Specimens of addressed social stationery 260
The monograms in the best taste are the small round ones, but many pleasing designs may be had in the
diamond, square, and oblong shapes 262
Specimens of crested letter and notepaper 263
Specimens of monogrammed stationery 266
Specimens of business letterheads 267
CHAPTER XIII 16
Department stores and firms that write many letters to women often employ a notepaper size 270
Specimens of stationery used by men for personal business letters 271
HOW TO WRITE LETTERS
CHAPTER XIII 17
CHAPTER I
WHAT IS A LETTER?
It is not so long since most personal letters, after an extremely formal salutation, began "I take my pen in
hand." We do not see that so much nowadays, but the spirit lingers. Pick up the average letter and you cannot
fail to discover that the writer has grimly taken his pen in hand and, filled with one thought, has attacked the
paper. That one thought is to get the thing over with.
And perhaps this attitude of getting the thing over with at all costs is not so bad after all. There are those who
lament the passing of the ceremonious letter and others who regret that the "literary" letter the kind of letter
that can be published is no longer with us. But the old letter of ceremony was not really more useful than a
powdered wig, and as for the sort of letter that delights the heart and lightens the labor of the
biographer well, that is still being written by the kind of person who can write it. It is better that a letter
should be written because the writer has something to say than as a token of culture. Some of the letters of our

There is a wide distinction between a letter and an epistle. The letter is a substitute for a spoken conversation.
It is spontaneous, private, and personal. It is non-literary and is not written for the eyes of the general public.
CHAPTER I 18
The epistle is in the way of being a public speech an audience is in mind. It is written with a view to
permanence. The relation between an epistle and a letter has been compared to that between a Platonic
dialogue and a talk between two friends. A great man's letters, on account of their value in setting forth the
views of a school or a person, may, if produced after his death, become epistles. Some of these, genuine or
forgeries, under some eminent name, have come down to us from the days of the early Roman Empire.
Cicero, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, are the principal names to which these epistles, genuine and
pseudonymous, are attached.
Some of the letters of Cicero are rather epistles, as they were intended for the general reader.
The ancient world Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Rome, and Greece figures in our inheritance of letters. In
Egypt have been discovered genuine letters. The papyrus discoveries contain letters of unknowns who had no
thought of being read by the general public.
During the Renaissance, Cicero's letters were used as models for one of the most common forms of literary
effort. There is a whole literature of epistles from Petrarch to the Epistolæ obscurorum virorum. These are, to
some degree, similar to the Epistles of Martin Marprelate.
Later epistolary satires are Pascal's "Provincial Letters," Swift's "Drapier Letters," and the "Letters of Junius."
Pope, soon to be followed by Lady Mary Montagu, was the first Englishman who treated letter writing as an
art upon a considerable scale.
Modern journalism uses a form known as the "open letter" which is really an epistle.
But we are not here concerned with the letter as literature.
CHAPTER I 19
CHAPTER II
THE PURPOSE OF THE LETTER
No one can go far wrong in writing any sort of letter if first the trouble be taken to set out the exact object of
the letter. A letter always has an object otherwise why write it? But somehow, and particularly in the dictated
letter, the object frequently gets lost in the words. A handwritten letter is not so apt to be wordy it is too
much trouble to write. But a man dictating may, especially if he be interrupted by telephone calls, ramble all
around what he wants to say and in the end have used two pages for what ought to have been said in three

simply. The man who does not know the language and is affecting something which he thinks is culture has
what might be called a sense of linguistic insecurity, which is akin to the sense of social insecurity. Now and
again one meets a person who is dreadfully afraid of making a social error. He is afraid of getting hold of the
wrong fork or of doing something else that is not done. Such people labor along frightfully. They have a
perfectly vile time of it, but any one who knows social usage takes it as a matter of course. He observes the
rules, not because they are rules, but because they are second nature to him, and he shamelessly violates the
rules if the occasion seems to warrant it. It is quite the same with the letter. One should know his ground well
enough to do what one likes, bearing in mind that there is no reason for writing a letter unless the objective is
clearly defined. Writing a letter is like shooting at a target. The target may be hit by accident, but it is more
apt to be hit if careful aim has been taken.
CHAPTER II 20
CHAPTER III
THE PARTS OF A LETTER
The mechanical construction of a letter, whether social, friendly, or business, falls into six or seven parts. This
arrangement has become established by the best custom. The divisions are as follows:
1. Heading 2. Inside address (Always used in business letters but omitted in social and friendly letters) 3.
Salutation 4. Body 5. Complimentary close 6. Signature 7. Superscription
1. THE HEADING
The heading of a letter contains the street address, city, state, and the date. The examples below will illustrate:
2018 Calumet Street or 1429 Eighth Avenue Chicago, Ill. New York, N.Y. May 12, 1921 March 8, 1922
[Illustration: In the business letterhead appear the name of the firm, its address, and the kind of business
engaged in]
When the heading is typewritten or written by hand, it is placed at the top of the first letter sheet close to the
right-hand margin. It should begin about in the center, that is, it should extend no farther to the left than the
center of the page. If a letter is short and therefore placed in the center of a page, the heading will of course be
lower and farther in from the edge than in a longer letter. But it should never be less than an inch from the top
and three quarters of an inch from the edge.
In the business letterhead appear the name of the firm, its address, and the kind of business engaged in. The
last is often omitted in the case of widely known firms or where the nature of the business is indicated by the
name of the firm.

paper. The form "My dear" is considered in the United States more formal than "Dear." Thus, when we write
to a woman who is simply an acquaintance, we should say "My dear Mrs. Evans." If we are writing to
someone more intimate we should say "Dear Mrs. Evans." The opposite is true in England that is, "My dear
Mrs. Evans" would be written to a friend and "Dear Mrs. Evans" to a mere acquaintance. In writing to an
absolute stranger, the full name should be written and then immediately under it, slightly to the right, "Dear
Madam" or "Dear Sir." For example:
Mrs. John Evans, Dear Madam:
or
Mr. William Sykes, Dear Sir:
The salutation is followed by a colon or a comma.
Business Letters
In business letters the forms of salutation in common use are: "Dear Sir," "Gentlemen," "Dear Madam," and
"Mesdames." In the still more formal "My dear Sir" and "My dear Madam" note that the second word is not
capitalized. A woman, whether married or unmarried, is addressed "Dear Madam." If the writer of the letter is
personally acquainted with the person addressed, or if they have had much correspondence, he may use the
less formal address, as "My dear Mr. Sykes."
The salutation follows the inside address and preserves the same margin as does the first line of the address.
The following are correct forms:
White Brothers Co. 591 Fifth Avenue New York
Gentlemen:
or
White Brothers Co. 591 Fifth Avenue New York
CHAPTER III 22
Gentlemen:
"Dear Sirs" is no longer much used although in many ways it seems to be better taste.
In the case of a firm or corporation with a single name, as Daniel Davey, Inc., or of a firm or corporation
consisting of men and women, the salutation is also "Gentlemen" (or "Dear Sirs"). In letters to or by
government officials the extremely formal "Sir" or "Sirs" is used. These are known as formal official letters.
The informal official letter is used between business men and concerns things not in the regular routine of
business affairs. These letters are decidedly informal and may be quite conversational in tone.

confer an honorary degree such as Doctor of Common Law (D.C.L.), Doctor of Law and Literature (LL.D.),
Doctor of Science (Sc.D.), and so on. Every holder of a doctor's degree is entitled to be addressed as "Doctor,"
CHAPTER III 23
but in practice the salutation is rarely given to the holders of the honorary degrees mostly because they do not
care for it.
Do not use "Mr." or "Esq." with any of the titles mentioned above.
The President of the United States should be addressed formally as "Sir," informally as "My dear Mr.
President."
Members of Congress and of the state legislatures, diplomatic representatives, judges, and justices are entitled
"Honorable," as "Honorable Samuel Sloane," thus:
(Formal) Honorable (or Hon.) John Henley Sir:
(Informal) Honorable (or Hon.) John Henley My dear Mr. Henley:
Titles such as "Cashier," "Secretary," and "Agent" are in the nature of descriptions and follow the name; as
"Mr. Charles Hamill, Cashier."
When such titles as "Honorable" and "Reverend" are used in the body of the letter they are preceded by the
article "the." Thus, "The Honorable Samuel Sloane will address the meeting."
A woman should never be addressed by her husband's title. Thus the wife of a doctor is not "Mrs. Dr. Royce"
but "Mrs. Paul Royce." The titles of "Judge," "General," and "Doctor" belong to the husband only. Of course,
if a woman has a title of her own, she may use it. If she is an "M.D." she will be designated as "Dr. Elizabeth
Ward." In this case her husband's Christian name would not be used.
In writing to the clergy, the following rules should be observed:
For a Cardinal the only salutation is "Your Eminence." The address on the envelope should read "His
Eminence John Cardinal Farley."
To an Archbishop one should write "Most Rev. Patrick J. Hayes, D.D., Archbishop of New York." The
salutation is usually "Your Grace," although it is quite admissible to use "Dear Archbishop." The former is
preferable and of more common usage.
The correct form of address for a Bishop is "The Right Reverend John Jones, D.D., Bishop of " The
salutation in a formal letter should be "Right Reverend and dear Sir," but this would be used only in a strictly
formal communication. In this salutation "dear" is sometimes capitalized, so that it would read "Right
Reverend and Dear Sir"; although the form in the text seems preferable, some bishops use the capitalized

think out just what we want to say. A rambling, incoherent letter is not in good taste any more than careless,
dishevelled clothing. Spelling should be correct. If there is any difficulty in spelling, a small dictionary kept in
the desk drawer is easily consulted. Begin each sentence with a capital. Start a new paragraph when you
change to a new subject. Put periods (or interrogation points as required) at the ends of the sentences. It is
neater to preserve a margin on both sides of the letter sheet.
In the body of a business letter the opening sentence is in an important position, and this is obviously the place
for an important fact. It ought in some way to state or refer to the subject of or reason for the letter, so as to
get the attention of the reader immediately to the subject.
It ought also to suggest a courteous personal interest in the recipient's business, to give the impression of
having to do with his interests. For instance, a reader might be antagonized by
Yours of the 14th regarding the shortage in your last order received.
How much more tactful is
We regret to learn from your letter of March 14th that there was a shortage in your last order.
Paragraphs should show the division of the thought of the letter. If you can arrange and group your subjects
and your thoughts on them logically in your mind, you will have no trouble in putting them on paper. It is
easier for the reader to grasp your thought if in each paragraph are contained only one thought and the ideas
pertaining to it.
The appearance of a business letter is a matter to which all too little concern has been given. A firm or
CHAPTER III 25