#61: Missing
As I’ve mentioned, 2016 was a lean reading year for me and I have great plans to remedy that this year. Among other ways of playing with this, I’m up for starting the 100 Untimed Books challenge.
As the above photo indicates I’m filing my recent read Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence (25th Anniversary Limited Edition) by Nick Bantock under prompt #61: Missing.
I was gifted this book by someone who had received a copy of my recent zine, and noting my penchant for tip ins and pockets containing little bits and bobs, knew I’d love this little edition.
It’s a charming little tale about the correspondence between two artists, carried on through postcards and letters, and tipped in throughout the book are envelopes containing notes so you have the tactile experience on opening missives and reading them. One of the pair of correspondents is supposedly an artist who uses her talents as a stamp designer, and I was fondly reminded of the time when creating faux postage was quite the rage.
While I won’t spoil the tale should you wish to read it, suffice it to say there is a little twist in the plot that effortlessly allows me to categorize this as my #61: Missing entry.
Continuing with my system of rating using floriography, the language of flowers, that both hints at the plot and reflects my assessment, I award this book a nosegay of Coriander (concealed merit), American Starwort (welcome to a stranger), and Flowering Fern (fascination).
I’m always going to be a stalwart supporter of snail mail. Long after the rest of the world has given up on paper missives, I expect I’ll be sticking stamps on envelopes and hunting for the increasingly scarce mail drop boxes in which to start them off on their postal journey. That being so, it’s always a delight to me when there are lovely and/or interesting stamps to use to adorn envelopes and pay the postage fee. It’s my opinion there aren’t enough fantastic images. If I were in charge of things, both our currency and our postage stamps would be far far more magical.
On the other hand, there are artists who clearly share my vision as well. Check out paper artist Diana Beltran Herrera who has done a series of paper sculpture bird stamps.
What about you? Are you a snail mailer? Consider it a lost art, and good riddance? Ever collect stamps? Create faux postage? Do tell – you know I love to hear. And should you be interested in a chance to receive a copy of my latest zine, let me know in the comments. If more than one person is interested, I’ll pull the winning name out of a hat – my favorite method of selection.
What an interesting book that sounds like! I love the thought of the little notes inside. Yes, being a cardmaker, I am a definite proponent of the snail mail and firmly believe (my word of the year) that getting a card or the like in the mail is much nicer than getting a bill! I’d love a copy of your latest zine! Good start to your reading this year!
LOL – ah yes, a cardmaker would indeed understand the magic of mail! I’ll happily put your name in that hat for the zine Janet. And here’s to a year of good reading for us both.
I love snail mail and still send lots of Christmas cards and postcards – the combination of the act of writing and chatting to the person you’re corresponding with and feeling close to them for a couple of moments along with choosing a pretty card and getting it away in the mail has always been exciting – and the child in me still checks off all the countries that Christmas post comes from and checking out the stamps lol
This book sounds lovely and your ezine would be a treat 🙂 I hope you have a lovely year Deborah.
Holiday cards are such a lovely tradition Fil, and I love that you’re sending them wide and far. Wishing you a most fabulous year, with lots of wonderful mail!
Oh Deborah, you already know how much I adore snail mail. And Mail Art is AB FAB. The postal workers just love it! I love collecting stamps…used, vintage, foreign…you name it. And I have quite a stash that I got from a yard sale. A giant box, apparently from a stamp collector. Now, I haven’t actually checked to see if any of them have any value, because I love to use them in art projects. An old lady friend of mine has become my penpal. Her hubby was a stamp collector, and she gifts me some wonderful UNUSED vintage stamps that the USPS tells me are still good to use. She told me that since her husband died, she really didn’t want to bother to find out if any of them were valuable, because she just doesn’t care about that. She would rather they be used as is for the full face value. And that is what I use in all of my snail mail correspondence with her.
Of course, since they are from years ago, I have to add them all up to meet the price of the mailing. And that makes for an interesting envelope, for sure! I love it. She and I both, even save all the cancelled stamps that we get from each others correspondence.
I just may have to look up that title and give it a read myself.
Thank you, Deborah for always making me and my mailbox smile:) Aloha!
Oh Vicki, your stamp stories are fabulous! There is special magic in envies that are covered in an assortment of older stamps imho. I always like to imagine that the stamps themselves are delighted to finally be put to use – to get to move through the mailstream and see a bit more of the world and the light of day. 🙂