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One Letter at a Time?

Now available, individual letter packets! I’m opening up the Arts in Letters archives, making the individual letter packets available for purchase as digital downloads. These are letters that have been sent to subscribers and will not be sent out again. (I work hard to make sure every subscriber receives a new letter every week!)

These are being made available to everyone, whether you are a subscriber or not. This is an opportunity for subscribers to fill in letters they missed or weren’t sent out during their subscription term. It’s a great opportunity for those considering buying a subscription to find out just what a weekly mailing consists of. Or if you aren’t intereested in a subscription right now, you can pick and choose who you want to learn more about.

Downloads consists of a PDF version of the letter packet which you can download and if you want , print out. There are 6-8 pages of information and images. The only difference between the subscription mailings and these downloads is that the downloadable PDF bears an Arts in Letters watermark.

So whether it’s one letter at a time, or a whole bunch at once, these are all available to to you instead of moldering in my digital archives. More are being added every week, so check back if you don’t see the subjects you are looking for. And you can always send me a message to find out when something specific is on its way. Start browsing through the “individual Letter” icon in the Shop section below. And, if you want to get some individual letters to supplement a subscription, the shop is configured so you can do both in the same transaction!

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Quote from Astronomer and Musician Caroline Herschel

One of the things I like most about doing the research on Arts in Letters letter writers, is finding nuggets of wisdom that they leave behind in addition to their creations and discoveries. In my opinion, this is one of the best I’ve found, left to us by an astronomer who discovered comets and mapped the heavens at a time when women were prevented from participating in scientific pursuits. Something I like even better is sharing these with Arts in Letters subscribers!

letter writers, is finding nuggets of wisdom that they leave behind in addition to their creations and discoveries. In my opinion, this is one of the best I’ve found, left to us by an astronomer who discovered comets and mapped the heavens at a time when women were prevented from participating in scientific pursuits. Something I like even better is sharing these with Arts in Letters subscribers!

Join me in combing through history to find the nuggets of wisdom and inspiration left to us by history’s great creators and innovators. Choose your subscription package and join in our weekly journey into history.

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A Romantic Gift of History

What could be more romantic than receiving a letter written by one of history’s great innovative minds every week? Taking a trip through history, holding a piece of it in your hands, learning about the people who brought into being the art, music, literature, scientific innovations that surround us, every week. Or show someone you love who has a love of learning and history how much you care by having Arts in Letters send them a letter every week. With the letter comes Bio and Background information, historical context, inspirational quotes, and suggestions for learning more about the people that inpire you.

Valentine’s Day will come and go, so why limit your demonstrations of love to one day a year when you can have them sent every week?! Subscribe by Wednesday midnight CST and first letters go in the mail Saturday. And don’t forget to add a gift message for your special someone, or for yourself, we won’t tell!!

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Children’s Books for Christmas Gifting, a Tradition Going Back to Victorian England

Books, especially children’s books, have been among the most popular Christmas gifts since the 19th century. Many writers took advantage of this by publishing Christmas books and stories every year in time for the Christmas gifting season.

Mrs. Perkins Ball was William Makepeace Thackeray’s first Christmas book, published under the pseudonym M. A. Titmarsh. It was only moderately successful but did well enough that he published several more. You can read it online here: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2731

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Have you Been Missing the Ferris Wheel?

This time of year many of us look forward to going to the fair. We love to indulge at the food stands with tried and true favorites of cotton candy, funnel cakes, and corn dogs (with ketchup only.) I especially love the lemonade shake-ups made with tart, fresh lemons and grainy sugar, slurp slurp! Since moving to Florida I still haven’t made the adjustment to having the state fair in February! So wrong.

Even if you don’t ride the rides or play the games, you have to take a turn around the midway and take in its flashing lights, ringing bells, and shrieking children. Among the whirling teacups, twirling octopus arms, and plunging roller coasters, you’ll find the old-fashioned Ferris Wheel. Hopefully there will be Ferris Wheels spinning near you sometime soon and that you’ll be able to enjoy the modern version of George Ferris’s invention.

One of the world’s favorite rides is named for George Washington Gale Ferris, who built the first ‘Ferris Wheel’ for one of the biggest fairs of them all, the 1892 World’s Fair held in Chicago, Illinois. Standards for great spectacles were high and Ferris didn’t disappoint. His wheel was 266 feet tall with a circumference of 825 feet. Unlike modern Wheels, the cars on his Wheel could hold up to 60 people each. With all 36 cars filled, over 2,000 could ride it at once. Wow!

Today’s Ferris Wheels are much smaller, but most of them are also portable. Ferris’s wheel had to be completely taken apart and the brick and masonry foundation broken down before it could be moved. It was only erected once or twice more, and what was once one of the world’s most exciting spectacles ended up as land fill.

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Arthur Rackham quote on children, fantasy, and education

English illustrator Arthur Rackham provided some of the most fantastic illustrations for children’s books, including Alice in Wonderland and Wind in the Willows. It’s no surprise that he valued fantasy as a way of expanding children’s intellect (and probably adults, too!) It’s always a joy to learn and write about such creative people for Arts in Letters subscribers.

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Seeing Music in Color like Kandinsky

Does listening to music cause you to see colors? And do those colors change as the notes change? If you experience this, you have something very special in common with Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, something called ‘synaesthesia.’

Synaesthesia happens when something that normally stimulates one sense, such as hearing music, stimulates another sense, such as sight. Over 60 different types of synaesthesia have been identified. The connection of seeing and hearing is called chromaesthesia.

Having studied music as a child and experiencing chromaesthesia all his his life, Kandinsky often sought to paint music he heard. In particular he was inspired by the music of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg.

Kandinsky Impression III, Concert
Composition III – Concert, 1911 Kandinsky osught to depict a performance of Schoenberg’s Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 11 in this painting

Supposedly only about 4% of people experience some kind of synaesthesia, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the number is much higher, and that most people have either just don’t notice it happening or their brains have turned it off as their sensory skills developed along more narrow lines. How about trying to some sensory experiments of your own to find out what a sound, color, smell, taste, or touch might make you see, hear, taste, feel, or smell?!

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Houdini Letter Spookiness

Houdini's wandering signature
Houdini’s signature decided to wander a little bit while we were preparing his letter. We never know what will happen when we’re working on Arts in Letters!