The Pen and the People shows how 18th-century men and women learned to write letters, why and how they used them, and the impact of letter writing on their lives and the wider culture. Based on over sixty unknown collections of family papers discovered over a ten year period, it tells the stories of middling and lower-sort people — a Yorkshire bridle maker, a domestic female servant, a Derbyshire wheelwright, an untrained woman writing poetry and short stories, as well as merchants and their families — all over many generations. Their ordinary backgrounds and extraordinary writing ... More

The Pen and the People shows how 18th-century men and women learned to write letters, why and how they used them, and the impact of letter writing on their lives and the wider culture. Based on over sixty unknown collections of family papers discovered over a ten year period, it tells the stories of middling and lower-sort people — a Yorkshire bridle maker, a domestic female servant, a Derbyshire wheelwright, an untrained woman writing poetry and short stories, as well as merchants and their families — all over many generations. Their ordinary backgrounds and extraordinary writings challenge accepted views that popular literacy was rare in England before 1800. This democratization of letter writing could never have occurred without the development of the Royal Mail. New information gleaned from personal letters tells a very different story about the development of the Post Office, which had altered the rhythms of daily life long before the 19th century. Yet the popularization of letter writing not only affected individuals, it had social, economic, and political impacts on 18th-century society. Its unique influence on literary culture, especially on reading and the rise of the novel, is reassessed from an historical point of view. Whyman's fresh approach captures actual dialogues of people telling stories about their lives. Easy to read tables present the newly-discovered archives, biographical details of principal letter writers, and the topics and social relationships revealed in thousands of letters.