by Barkham Burroughs
Available in 217 free installments
Owner:
No one great thing, but many little things carefully watched, and attentively practiced, make up the structure and dress of a business letter, and give it a businesslike air. The penmanship should be a neat, strong hand, very plain and legible, and devoid of all flourish.
PAPER AND ENVELOPE.
The paper and envelopes used in business correspondence should be of a good, durable quality, and a white color is preferable. Cheap materials are not only unsatisfactory to the writer, but may give the reader an unfavorable impression, which would be an injury far exceeding the cost of the best stationery for a life time. Persons form impressions from very little things sometimes.
The size of a letter sheet in business correspondence should be about 8x10 inches. This sheet affords a sufficient space for a communication of ordinary length to be written on one side only, which is essential in case the letter is copied in a letter press. A sheet of paper, note size, (5x8) is oftentimes used for brief communications of no special importance, and not designed to be filed for future reference. Among professional men the commercial note sheet is more extensively used, but with business men the letter size is considered preferable.
The envelope should correspond in size to that of the letter sheet, and should be a trifle longer than one-half the length of the sheet. Thus in a sheet eight by ten inches, one-half the length of the sheet is five inches, and this requires the length of the envelope to be about five and a quarter inches. Its width is usually about three inches. Avoid the use of fancy colored and fancy shaped paper and envelopes. These may not be objectionable in social correspondence among ladies, but the gravity of business affairs does not admit of such display.
THE HEADING.
With most firms engaged in business it has become a custom to have the business advertisement placed at the head of the letter page, together with street, number and city. Thus leaving only the date to be inserted to complete the heading.
In case the heading of the letter is to be entirely written, it should be placed so as to occupy the right hand half of the first two lines at the top of the page. If, however, the letter is to be a very brief one, occupying only three or four lines, the heading may then be placed lower down on the sheet, so as to bring the body of the letter about the center of the sheet.
Writing from a large city the heading should contain the street and number. Your correspondent, in directing his answer will rely on the address given in the heading of your letter. Never be guilty of the blunder committed by ignorant persons of placing a part of the heading under the signature.
[Illustration:
765 Market Street, Philadelphia, June 10, 1882.]
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE STRUCTURE OF A LETTER.]
The second line of the heading should begin a little farther to the right than the first line, as seen above.
If the writer has a box at the Post Office and wishes his mail delivered there, he may head his letter, as on the following page:
[Illustration:
P.O. Box 3657, New York, May 16, 1882.]
[Illustration:
Chas. A Roberts Wm. J. Dennis Office of ROBERT & DENNIS DEALERS IN FANCY AND STAPLE GROCERIES, 320 Jefferson Street, Burlington, Va.,_____________ 18__]
Writing from the principal cities of the United States it is not necessary to make the name of the state a part of the heading, as that is supposed to be known and understood, but with smaller cities the name of the state also, should be given. Thus, there is a Quincy in Illinois, and also in Massachusetts, and unless the state were mentioned a person answering a letter from Quincy, would not know which state to direct his reply to. In writing from an obscure town or village, not only the state should be given, but the county as well.
[Illustration:
Ottawa, La Salle County, Ill., December 20, 1882.]
The punctuation of the heading and other parts of the letter, is of great importance in the estimation of cultivated persons, and something which can be learned by a little attention on the part of anyone, in examining the forms here given.
MARGIN.
