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The essentially civilised art of letter-writing -- 'the gentlest art' as it has been called -- is one which defies definition, for the subject of a good letter may be anything from wrath to rabbits and the style may change not only with the man but with the mood. In the Personal Art, Philip Wayne demonstrates something of this variety and also the friendliness, wit and feeling that are to be found in English letter-writers from Dorothy Osborne, Walpole and Lamb to Fitzgerald, Lear and T.E. Lawrence. This selection has been made with the scope and originality which were an outstanding feature of the Heritage of Poetry. Both new and already familiar letters are included and occasional notes have been added which increase the significance and interest of the more allusive passages. In the introduction the editor discusses provocatively and in some detail the nature of a first-class letter.

English letters. --- English letters. --- Lettres anglaises (Genre littéraire).