Sociability and the Travelling Letter

The long eighteenth century is widely recognisedby scholars as a golden age of letter writing, characterised by the expansion of transnational and transatlantic correspondence networks among the elites. Particularly in Britain, this period witnessed an unprecedented enthusiasm for epistolary exchange, which led to a proliferation of publications—ranging from scholarly productions such as theoretical treatises and letter-writing manuals, to literary works, whether fictional, sentimental, general, or biographical. These developments contributed to a redefinition of epistolary conventions, narrative models, and often gendered representations of letter writing.