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| Miss Bingley wants to help |
Loretta reports:
If you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, you might have found yourself wondering, among other things, about Miss Bingley’s offer to mend Mr. Darcy’s pen for him.
Letter writing, which is either extinct now or nearly so, was in the early 19th century an extremely complicated process. The Young Lady’s Book: A Manual of Elegant Recreations, Exercises, and Pursuits, devotes 30-plus pages to the topic of letter writing in a chapter titled “The Escruitoire.”
I’m still trying to figure out how to fold the paper.
The hard-core nerdy among you will wish to peruse the entire chapter. For those who’d rather not, thank you, I offer from its pages the art of mending a pen.
Please click on text to enlarge to readable size. If that still isn't big enough, please click on the link to the chapter.
