Handwritten Ephemera

• Letter from Peter Lyle to Stanley Scott
• 203 x 254mm (8 x 10in)
• June 1954
•  

This month's choice, a visually exciting letter, is prompted by Philip Hensher's new book, The Missing Ink*, which traces the rise and rise of handwriting in the 19th and 20th centuries, as wider education brought this most individual of skills to the masses.

Writing by hand is something that has shaped and revealed our humanity for thousands of years. In a world where people are increasingly swapping pens, letters and love-notes for typing text messages with their thumbs this book is itself a love letter to the lost art of handwriting - as a cultural artefact, an expression of our individuality and as a craft in itself.

This is a smart, funny book about the rise and slow death of the art of handwriting; and why it still matters.

• *Imprint: Macmillan
• ISBN: 9780230767126