LETTERS OF NOTE: Transcripts

This letter was written by Vincent van Gogh to Émile Bernard, March 18th, 1888, a month after leaving Paris for Arles: My dear Bernard, having promised to write to you, I want to begin by telling you that this part of the world seems to me as beautiful as Japan...The women’s costume is pretty, and especially on the boulevard on Sunday you see some very naive and well-chosen arrangements of color. And that, too, will doubtless get even livelier in summer. Read transcript here

21-year-old Andy Warhol wrote in response to a request for 'biographical information': my life couldn't fill a penny postcard. i was born in pittsburgh in 1928 (like everyone else - in a steel mill). i graduated from Carnegie Tech. now i'm in NY city moving from one roach infested apartment to another.– andy warhol

Russian-born artist Moses Soyer wrote a number of letters to his teenage sons; nearly all replete with fantastic illustrations as charming as this

This letter, to ex-President Herbert Hoover, regards the alarming ill-health and living situation of Nikola Tesla, the man who changed our modern world with his invention–alternating current electricity. Three days after it was written, Tesla passed away. Read transcript here

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Dear Editor Shaun Usher,

I am in awe of your fascinating blog "Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience". Some of my favorite's you've posted include the letter from an enraged Mark Twain ("You're an idiot of the 33rd degree"), the one from super blunt Studio Head Harvey Weinstein ("You're boring"), a barely coherent Courtney Love to Spin Magazine ("Maddonna is utterly ARTLESS"), the apology from badly behaved writer/poet Edgar Allan Poe ("I'm sorry. My friend got me drunk"), and the IMBECILOGRAM from writer Jerzy Kosinski ("Dear Idiot, don't you have anything better to do?"), among so many others. Very quotable literary ammunition.

LETTERS OF NOTE

Thanks to Ray Grasse for showing me this site