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Letter Writing, Stationery Supplies, and Consumer Modernity in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Letter Writing, Stationery Supplies, and Consumer Modernity in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World konsantint dierks Indiana University, Bloomington LetterWriting, Stationery Supplies, andConsumerModernityinthe Eighteenth-Century AtlanticWorld In December 1775, Israel Angell wrote an earnest letter from amid the revolutionary siege of Boston to his brother back home. ‘‘I am afraid You Can Never Read the above lines,’’ Angell scribbled in closing, ‘‘as They was wrote in a few minutes And with a bad Pen and poor Ink’’ (Angell xi). Acknowledging that his handwriting might not be legible enough to be read, Angell seemingly suggested that he wrote as much for his own sake as for his brother’s, for catharsis as much as communication. He also rued the inferiority of his pen and ink, implying that he was aware of a spectrum of greater and lesser quality. Although aware, however, he did not fret over the matter, because by 1775 the use of pen and ink had become common- place even for someone like Angell, a middling farmer and cooper from the hamlet of Johnston, Rhode Island, a few miles west of Providence. What had become commonplace could be taken for granted, no matter whether pen and ink were, in the moment, good or bad. It had not been commonplace for very long. Born in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Early American Literature University of North Carolina Press

Letter Writing, Stationery Supplies, and Consumer Modernity in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Dierks, Konstantin.
Early American Literature , Volume 41 (3) – Dec 7, 2006
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1534-147X

Abstract

konsantint dierks Indiana University, Bloomington LetterWriting, Stationery Supplies, andConsumerModernityinthe Eighteenth-Century AtlanticWorld In December 1775, Israel Angell wrote an earnest letter from amid the revolutionary siege of Boston to his brother back home. ‘‘I am afraid You Can Never Read the above lines,’’ Angell scribbled in closing, ‘‘as They was wrote in a few minutes And with a bad Pen and poor Ink’’ (Angell xi). Acknowledging that his handwriting might not be legible enough to be read, Angell seemingly suggested that he wrote as much for his own sake as for his brother’s, for catharsis as much as communication. He also rued the inferiority of his pen and ink, implying that he was aware of a spectrum of greater and lesser quality. Although aware, however, he did not fret over the matter, because by 1775 the use of pen and ink had become common- place even for someone like Angell, a middling farmer and cooper from the hamlet of Johnston, Rhode Island, a few miles west of Providence. What had become commonplace could be taken for granted, no matter whether pen and ink were, in the moment, good or bad. It had not been commonplace for very long. Born in

Journal

Early American Literature – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Dec 7, 2006

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