Sunday, September 21, 2003
The provenance of vintage books
I think one of the really fun things about vintage books is thinking about the people who used to own them. Did a teenager once hide Suburban Wives from his parents? Did the woman who underlined passages in my copy of Elegance start storing her cashmere sweaters on top of the wool ones so they wouldn't get crushed?
I opened a copy of Etiquette: The complete modern guide for day-to-day living the correct way and found two copies of an article called "Writing Thank-You Notes." I found them so interesting because they're both on letterhead from the Buffalo Evening News. Was this something you could write in for, or did the former owner of my book write an etiquette column in the News? Since I don't really know where I picked this up, I have no idea.
There are some samples of good thank you notes. Here's one of my favorites:
That's a very good thank you note, and could be applied to anything from a sweater to, say, an Amazon gift certificate. It could be sent by e-mail if, say, you didn't know the person's postal address and didn't know how to look it up on the Internet.
I also like this:
I think this one would come in handy for thank yous for job interviews. Something like "The tour of the company grounds was truly impressive" for one of those "I'd-love-to-work-here-if-everyone-I-just-met-wasn't-such-a-jerk" interviews.
I think one of the really fun things about vintage books is thinking about the people who used to own them. Did a teenager once hide Suburban Wives from his parents? Did the woman who underlined passages in my copy of Elegance start storing her cashmere sweaters on top of the wool ones so they wouldn't get crushed?
I opened a copy of Etiquette: The complete modern guide for day-to-day living the correct way and found two copies of an article called "Writing Thank-You Notes." I found them so interesting because they're both on letterhead from the Buffalo Evening News. Was this something you could write in for, or did the former owner of my book write an etiquette column in the News? Since I don't really know where I picked this up, I have no idea.
There are some samples of good thank you notes. Here's one of my favorites:
"Dear Sandra,
I'm so excited about the (name of gift) that you sent. Who but you would have thought of something so clever and charming? I so appreciate your thinking of me.
Love, Jane"
That's a very good thank you note, and could be applied to anything from a sweater to, say, an Amazon gift certificate. It could be sent by e-mail if, say, you didn't know the person's postal address and didn't know how to look it up on the Internet.
I also like this:
"If you really detest the gift, find something nice about it (such as color) that you can praise sincerely."
I think this one would come in handy for thank yous for job interviews. Something like "The tour of the company grounds was truly impressive" for one of those "I'd-love-to-work-here-if-everyone-I-just-met-wasn't-such-a-jerk" interviews.
permalink posted by The Vintage Reader @ 12:22 AM 
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