Dear Readers, 

This is my thirty-ninth letter to you since I became editor of Hand Papermaking. It’s customary for a publication to open with a letter, to say hello, set the  stage, share some news, and introduce the contributing writers; a moment for  the reader to settle into the issue. When I draft this letter, I am aware that it is  a public communication, to be printed in 1,200 copies give or take, and shared  on our website and elsewhere. 

Letters can also be deeply intimate afairs. These we picture as hand-scribed,  ink on paper, generally with the intended audience of one or perhaps a small  group of family members, friends, or colleagues. They might contain timely  observations about the weather, relatives, politics, neighbors; travel notes from  places far from home; or deep expression of love or grief—all not intended for  public consumption. When personal correspondence makes its way into the  public realm, we get a glimpse of the life and times and interior world of the let ter writer and by extension their addressee. In the same way, the sheet of paper  on which the letter is written becomes a letter itself. Papermakers, historians,  and conservators “read'' extant papers from the past to access clues about their  production, their uses, and the humans involved. In this issue, we look at letters  and the many forms they can take on paper.  

Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes starts the issue with an examination of letters  by the nineteenth-century botanist Victor Jacquemont sent during his travels  in India; the correspondence often contained sidebar comments about the pa per on which he was writing. Hanne Frey Husø shares a deeply personal essay  about a vulnerable moment in her life and a letter poem in which gratitude is  expressed in “fantasy” paper flowers. In a wide-ranging interview by Angela Du fresne, Elena del Rivero describes her consistent, somewhat obsessive use of the  letter form in her drawing, painting, and installation work. Hand Papermaking  Black Writers Fellowship–Researcher sadé powell writes an open letter, calling  on the feld to create more papermaking opportunities for black emerging artists. In addition, Catherine Nash introduces the work of Tohono O’odham artist  Terrol Dew Johnson, who incorporated paper in his basket forms and sculpture; Katie MacGregor contributes a sample of a stunning pulp-painted paper  she produced for a new publication by Claire Van Vliet; Keren Alfred reviews  the two-volume Papermaker’s Tears, edited by Tatiana Ginsberg; and Michael  Durgin gives us his take on The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking, edited by  Drew Matott and Gretchen Miller. The issue concludes with an essay by James  Ojascastro on a paper made in Vietnam, dó liệt, accompanied by a sample of the  extraordinarily sublime paper. 

In closing, on behalf of the board and staff of Hand Papermaking, I extend  our thanks to Michael Fallon for his seven-year service at the helm, and warmly  welcome Rosa Chang as our new executive director of Hand Papermaking.  Rosa will address the readership in her Letter from the Executive Director at  the top of the next issue of the magazine. 

With much affection and hope to hear from you soon, 

Mina Takahashi.