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Letters column

Reader letters

A weekly column of what readers wrote back about.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Re:

A Pair of Rosewood Opera Glasses, Re-Collimated

From A reader, by mail

I read this piece twice, once for the story and once for the small mechanical detail at the centre of it.

Re:

A Specialist Clock Sale Outside Boston

From A reader, by email

A small correction: the date in the third paragraph is off by one year. The rest is true to the subject.

Re:

The Bone Folder and the Paper Conservator's Hand

From A subject of the piece

Thank you for the patience with the story. We read it aloud at the table the morning it appeared.

Re:

A Bookbinder in Bristol's Stokes Croft

From A retired teacher

I have spent my own career in adjacent rooms. The detail about the long quiet stretch in the afternoon is exactly right.

Re:

A Collection of American Trade Cards, 1880 to 1905

From A graduate student

I am writing about adjacent material in a different country and was grateful to read this. The bibliography is small but useful.

Re:

Longcase Clock Dials and Movements: Reading the Maker's Mark

From A reader, anonymous by request

I share the writer's view that the small ceremonies of working life are the part most worth recording.

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