I’ve been doing a lot of posts lately about envelopes I’ve sent to friends over the years, and I thought it also might be fun to show some that I’ve received. All of these examples are from the 20th Century- I’m still in touch with all of these people, but the Internet Age has put an end to the snail letter.
When l shared an apartment in New York with my high school friend Tim Hill, another school friend, Will Spray, sent envelopes depicting us both. Will put a self-portrait on the back of one.
Another school friend penpal, Caitlin Maynard.
The above two letters are from yet another school friend, Norelle “Zook” Pratt.
A friend I knew in New York, Tasha Vinikow, kept up a correspondence after she married and moved to Washington.
For a while my most prolific correspondent was former college roommate Will Schroeder, whose envelopes overflow with cartoons as well as scribbled thoughts that must have come to him after he sealed the flap.
Hardly any of the professional artists I’ve exchanged letters with decorate their correspondence the way I do; one exception is Vancouver cartoonist Colin Upton. In this series of postcards Colin twits my pretensions to being a perspective know-it-all.