The orange moon stamp is perfect for Maggie's floral design that is Octoberized with a pumpkin. The lettering is one of those fun styles I'd be able to do if I pulled out nibs and ink. I have no idea who did it first but it's a cross-pollination of uncial, a very old broad edge style with pointed nib. It would be fun to make a chart with all the different tools along the A-axis and all the different styles of lettering along the B-axis and then try them all. That would be a good exercise to start in 2026 to keep the blog educational. Shall we do that?
First we need a statistician to tell us if I'm using the right terminology with my A-axis and B-axis. Then we need a list of every tool and every style. I will start that after I finish my Mark Twain story.
A few minutes ago I had two things from the Mark Twain biography that related to mail. Right now, I can only think of one of them. Without going into detail, trust me when I say he was quite a character. He's known for being quotable because he was not afraid to voice his opinion and enjoyed lively debates. He knew his views were not popular and reveled in stirring things up.
Entertainers were the celebrities of the day and authors were also celebrities. Twain's personality launched him into the rock star category during post Civil War and into the turn-of-the-century. He received a copious amount of mail and had nothing nice to say about people who bothered him with letters that included comments and questions. He resented the time it took to respond and felt obligated to respond. Some people just asked for an autograph which didn't bother him as much because he could sign his name several times on a sheet of paper and assistants could cut the signatures apart and mail them. The requests for additional comments really got under his skin.
In spite of his flaws, manners associated with correspondence seemed to be intact. I don't give myself very high marks in maintaining correspondence. Apologies to all the people who write but never hear back from me. On top of not responding, I don't keep track when I do respond so my stack of mail might be full of mail that I did respond to. Maybe 2026 is the year I just clear the stacks and start over.
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