Empire of Letters: Letter Manuals and Transatlantic Correspondence, 1680-1820

Eighteenth-century English, Scottish, and American letter manuals, among the most frequently reprinted books of the era, spread norms of polite conduct and communication, helping not only to connect and unify different regions of the British Atlantic world, but to foster very different local and regional cultures and values. By teaching secret writing, they also enabled transatlantic correspondents to communicate what they wanted despite interception, censorship, and the practice of reading private letters in company. Eve Tavor Bannet uncovers what people knew then about letters that we have forgotten, revolutionizing our understanding of eighteenth-century letters, novels, periodicals, and other kinds of writing that used the letter form in print as well as manuscript. This lively, widely researched interdisciplinary study will change the ways we read and interpret eighteenth-century letters and think about the book in the Atlantic world. -- From publisher's description.