Letters of Note Series

An irresistible new volume of affectionate missives about everyone’s favorite taboo topic from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections.

In Letters of Note: Sex, Shaun Usher collects together some of the most noteworthy missives ever written on the subject, from euphemism-laden, flirtatious exchanges and desire-driven expressions of passion to sincere and thoughtful meditations on the meaning of sex.

Includes letters by:
John Cheever, Sigmund Freud,
Dorothy Day, James Joyce,
Margaret Mead, Henry Miller,
Anaïs Nin, Mae West
& many more

An irresistible new volume of missives about outer space, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

In Letters of Note: Outer Space, Shaun Usher brings together fascinating correspondence about the universe beyond our planet, containing hopeful thoughts about the future of space travel, awestruck messages penned about the world beyond our own and celebrations of the human ingenuity that has facilitated our understanding of the cosmos.

Includes letters by:
Buzz Aldrin, Isaac Asimov,
Marion Carpenter, Yuri Gagarin,
Ann Druyan, Stanley Kubrick,
Nikola Tesla, Neil DeGrasse Tyson
& many more

An exciting new volume of letters about the Capital of the World–from George Washington, Kahlil Gibran, Audrey Hepburn, Martin Scorsese, and more–from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Peter Schagen writes to the Dutch West India Company about the purchase of “Manhattes.” Mayor Ambrose Kingsland urges the city council to create what became Central Park. E. B. White bemoans taxi cab design to Harold Ross, cofounder of The New Yorker. Bianca Jagger sets the record straight about that white horse in Studio 54. New York City goes by many names–Gotham, Empire City, the City That Never Sleeps–and once served as the capital of America. It came together as we know it in 1898 and has become one of the world’s most powerful, most important megacities, shaping art, culture, finance, and media across the globe. This iconic collection of thirty letters smartly explores the history of life in the five boroughs. You’ll need more than a New York minute to enjoy it all.

An irresistible new volume of affectionate missives about our man’s best friend from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections.

In Letters of Note: Dogs, Shaun Usher brings together a delightful collection of correspondence about our canine friends, featuring affectionate accounts of pups’ playful misdemeanours, heartfelt tributes to loyal fidos and shared tales of remarkable hounds.

Includes letters by:
Clara Bow, Bob Hope,
Charles Lamb, Sue Perkins,
Marcel Proust, Dodie Smith,
Gertrude Stein, E.B. White
& many more

In Letters of Note: Grief, Shaun Usher gathers together some of the most powerful messages about grief, from the heart-wrenching pain of losing a loved one to reliving fond memories of those who have passed on.

Includes letters by:

Audre Lorde, Robert Frost,
Nick Cave, Rainer Maria Rilke,
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette,
Kahlil Gibran, Edith Wharton,
Mary Wortley Montagu, Seungsahn Haengwon
& many more

A fascinating new volume of messages about motherhood, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections. In Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and about mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice the role brings to both parent and child.

A young Egyptian girl mourns her mother’s death in the fourth century AD. Melissa Rivers lovingly chides her mother, Joan, for treating her house like a hotel and taking her thirteen-year-old son to see Last Tango in Paris. Anne Sexton gives her daughter the advice to live life to the hilt, and be your own woman. In a letter to her teenage daughter, Caitlin Moran explains that some boys are as evil as vampires, and you must drive stakes through their hearts. The film Ladybird inspires journalist Hannah Woodhead to write an emotional letter to her mother. While at seminary, Martin Luther King Jr. writes that he has “the best mother in the world.” These thirty letters capture the endless range of feelings that comes with being or having a mother.

Includes letters from E.B. White, George Bernard Shaw, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sylvia Plath, Laura Dern, Baya Hocine, Louisa May Alcott, Wallac Stegner, and more.

A splendid new volume of missives about art, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections.

Vincent Van Gogh curses the stare of the blank canvas. Salvador Dali contemplates mailing a piece of his ‘lobster-colored pajamas’ to Federico Lorca. Hollis Frampton, to the MoMA, demands that artists be paid. The dean of students at San Francisco Art Institute argues to Alicia McCarthy, in very stern words, that graffit is not art but, rather, a “pain in the ass.” In a letter to the editor, Martin Scorsese defends and celebrates Fellini’s filmmaking. This collection celebrates extraordinary correspondence about art, from missives on the agony of being overlooked, the ecstacy of producing work that excits, to surprising sources of inspiration and rousing manifestos. These thirty letters show us the many ways that art and life can intersect, and what we talk about when they do.

Includes letters from Carl Jung, Mary Cassatt, Mark Rothko, Oscar Wilde, Frida Kahlo, Mick Jagger, and more.

A fascinating new volume of messages about fatherhood, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections.

In Letters of Note: Fathers, Shaun Usher collects together remarkable correspondence by and about fathers, including proud parental words of love, advice from experienced dads to new ones, as well as letters from both frustrated and adoring offspring.
Includes letters by:
Anne Frank, W.E.B. Du Bois,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Groucho Marx,
Che Guevara, Ted Hughes
Katherine Mansfield, Fergal Keane,
Arthur Conan Doyle, Samuel Bernstein
& many more

A powerful new volume of missives about combat by Alexander Hamilton, General Sherman, Evelyn Waugh, Kurt Vonnegut, and more, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Defeated Cossacks taunt the pompous sultan of the Ottoman Empire. A black corporal beseeches Abraham Lincoln to ensure that his regiment receives proper payment for performing their duties. Mohandas Gandhi urges Adolf Hitler to turn back the tide of war. A suicide bomber in Iraq explains his simple motivation to his family. This poignant collection offers a nuanced and moving look at the act of armed conflict. Each of these 30 remarkable letters sheds light on what it means for us to take up arms against one another and record a piece of that terrible deed. They encapsulate the full experience of battle, from feats of courage and sacrifice to the grief that follows acts of violence, ultimately affirming the power of the written word.

From Napoléon Bonaparte and Frida Kahlo to Nelson Mandela and Ayn Rand glimpse the ardors of artists, painters, writers, and more in this touching volume of beautiful missives, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Beethoven yearns to see his famously unknown Immortal Beloved. A Victorian farmer proposes marriage to a woman he’s never met. Zora Neale Hurston gives her ex-husband relationship advice. Mildred Loving asks the ACLU for help challenging the racist marriage laws of the Jim Crow South. Revealing deep, eternal truths from the heart, this intimate collection of 30 letters traces all of love’s incarnations, from first blush and mutual enchantment to unrequited feelings and the ache of passions past. It offers a rare, passionate, and timeless look at what it means to love and be loved.

From Beethoven and Tchaikovsky to John Lennon Prince and Kim Gordon, tune in to the evocative expressions of treasured composers, musicians, singers, and songwriters in this enchanting volume from the compiler of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Verdi writes to his publisher about a man who hated Aida so much that he wants his money back. Keith Richards tells his aunt about bumping into a former schoolmate named Mick Jagger, who also loves Chuck Berry. Yo-Yo Ma wonders whether Leonard Bernstein remembers introducing him onstage as a young boy. A Harvard psychiatrist begs CVS to change their on-hold music. Riffing on their passions and surroundings, the artists and entertainers in this volume candidly reveal the sources of their inspiration, what music means to them, why they create it, and so much more. This rich and engaging collection of 30 letters celebrates the resonance that music, in its many forms and variations, brings to our lives.

An irresistible new volume of affectionate missives about our feline companions from Charles Dickens, Anne Frank, Raymond Chandler, Elizabeth Taylor, and more, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Florence Nightingale sends care instructions to the woman who has just adopted her angora tomcat Mr. White. T. S. Eliot issues a rhyming birthday party invitation to all Jellicle cats for his four-year-old godson. Jack Kerouac’s mother grieves at the death of the family cat. Jack Lemmon winkingly suggests to Walter Matthau that they go in on a cat ranch in Mexico. This utterly charming collection offers a warm and friendly look at the place that cats occupy in our hearts and lives. These thirty letters capture the profound delight of having or observing a cat, and they reveal a keen insight into feline nature as well as our own.