ABSTRACT
Letter writing was a formal art and performance in the Humanist tradition. The earliest and most influential letter-writing manual was Erasmus’s De Conscribendis Epistolis (1522), a Latin schoolbook for boys. The epistolary maintenance of friendship between equals (usually exchanges between learned men) was Erasmus’s chief model. Later manuals, notably Angel Day’s The English Secretary (1586, 1592, 1595, etc.), which, like De Conscribendis ran to many editions, was produced in the vernacular and offered detailed models of letters for those seeking social advancement. Day’s book contains examples of model letters for women, as do manuals like William Fulwood’s the Enemie of Idlenesse (1568, 1578, 1582, 1586, 1593, etc.).
