By: Samantha Huntington, Community Engagement Specialist
April 8, 2025
When you picture a handwritten letter, you might imagine a carefully penned message, flowing neatly across the page. But throughout history, letter writers often had to be resourceful with space, finding creative ways to fit as much as possible onto a single sheet. With postage costs tied to the number of pages, every inch of paper was valuable, leading to inventive techniques to save space.
Margins:
One method won’t be much of a surprise. You’ve reached the bottom of the page but still have more to say? Just write in the margins. This is an ancient practice, literally! In this letter from the 2nd century a boy writes to his father (the letter is actually written by a professional letter-writer) and in the margins his friends offer their greetings.
Image: Letter of Apion, a Young Soilder in the Roman Army, to his Father, Epimachos, in Egypt. From the 2nd Century
Hundreds of years later you can see margins still being used in this letter from Winter Park resident, Hiram Powers, to his then fiancé, later wife, Rose Mills Powers.
Powers’ letter showcases another technique that anyone could relate to. As you reach the end of your paper your characters become smaller, and your sentences are written closer together resulting in a cramped lower half of the letter.
Image: Letter from Winter Park resident, Hiram Powers, to his then fiancé, later wife, Rose Mills Powers. From the early 1900s
Orientation:
While writing in the margins and leaving little space between lines is something that relates us to letter writers of the past let’s now get into some of the more inventive ways people saved space. Jane Austen’s own letters are great examples. Instead of writing lines very close together or starting a whole new page some writers in the Regency era would simply rotate the page and continue writing.
This technique was called cross-writing. One way to do this was turning the page 90 degrees and then continuing the letter. This created a crisscrossed look. Another way to do it was turning the page 180 degrees and continuing writing. This letter written by Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, is a great example of the latter.
Image: Letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra Austen. From May 27, 1801.
Not so much a space saving measure but something interesting you see in older letters is the orientation of the letter changing partway through. This could indicate the start of a new page or a separate thought from the rest of the letter. This example, also written by Hiram Powers, shows half the page written horizontally and the other half vertically.
Image: Letter from Winter Park resident, Hiram Powers, to his then fiancé, later wife, Rose Mills Powers. From the early 1900s
These methods offer a fascinating glimpse into the habits of past letter writers, revealing their ingenuity and adaptability. While our modern messages are often digital and limitless in space, these historic letters remind us of a time when every word had to be carefully placed. Whether scribbled in the margins or layered in crisscrossed lines, these letters tell stories not just through their words, but through the unique ways they were written.
If you’re interested in seeing more of the Powers Collection of letters and other historical letters from Winter Park, pay a visit to our Archives!