THE FRAMED GRACIOUS REJECTION BY CORA MINIDORA

My mother was not a famous journalist, but she was a very good one, with the sort of engaged, compassionate voice—both on the  page and over the telephone—that inspired people to reveal their secrets, or simply to call back when they otherwise wouldn’t. Because of this, and also because John Updike was equally generous, when my mother wrote him requesting an interview, he responded with a note.

He said no. Or, more precisely, between genuinely complimenting an article she’d written and congenially volunteering how his family liked to spend Christmas, he said, “I don’t really like talking on the telephone.” That’s it; no further explanation or excuse. The year was 1985. After typing out the letter, he went back over it with two kinds of pen, making corrections. “Gloomy” became “cold”, and “dismal” was inked out altogether, both in ballpoint. An entire clause is lost to a heavy felt-tip. I know this because my mother had the letter framed, with the mat cut specially to accommodate a copyedit that had sprouted into the margin (“are growing” for “have grown”), and hung it in her office, where it outlasted first her death, and then his.

I, too, was proud—to have a mother to whom John Updike had written a letter—and so it took years of repeated readings for me to absorb its implicit lesson: Done graciously, a rejection doesn’t hurt at all, and can almost be flattering. It’s not you, reads the message between the lines, it’s me—me who doesn’t like talking on the telephone, me who must disappoint us both in embarking on what could otherwise be a perfectly enjoyable exchange between you, an unknown but very good journalist, and myself. Surely, no matter what, a respectfully written and sent “no” is better than nothing at all.

- Cora Minidora

Cora Minidora is a Brooklyn-based writer with antiquarian enthusiasms. She contributes on books and culture to The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and Vogue under a pseudonym.

Thornwillow Press is a printer and publisher of handmade limited edition books,

maker of engraved stationery, invitations, announcements and custom leather book bindings.

Click below to view some related work from Thornwillow.

Peacock Feather engraved stationery

In Love With A Wanton by John Updike

Three Stories by John Updike

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RealSimple, a blog about showcasing good-to-know information with inspiring ideas, have featured Thornwillow’s Peacock engraved stationery in their Stunning Stationery article!  This engraved motif comes in a cello package of 10 cards and 10 tissue lined envelopes.  Click the above image of the stationery to purchase.

RealSimple.com provides smart, realistic solutions to everyday challenges, combining the great service of Real Simple magazine with the fresh, interactive quality of the Web.

See our engraved stationery, custom leather bookbinding and library accessories in the

March 2010 edition of House Beautiful!

Page 46 features the desk of Publisher Luke Ives Pontifell
which overflows with engraved stationery, monogram designs, leather bookbindings,
and Thornwillow’s letterpress printed, limited edition publications.

www.housebeautiful.com

Make engraved stationery, leather bound books and decorative papers part of your Easter gift basket.

Click to browse our Easter gift guide featuring engraved stationery, leather bound books, handmade wrapping papers and Easter gifts for the reader, writer and lover of the written word.

Celebrate the Written Word
Thornwillow Press, Ltd.

]]> http://www.thornwillow.com/2010/02/2010-thornwillow-easter-gift-guide/feed/ 0 http://www.thornwillow.com/2010/01/valentines-gift-set-by-thornwillow-press-featured-in-instyle-mag/ http://www.thornwillow.com/2010/01/valentines-gift-set-by-thornwillow-press-featured-in-instyle-mag/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:18:58 +0000 Thornwillow Press http://www.thornwillow.com/?p=660

Please check out the Valentine’s Gift Set featured on page 181 of the February 2010 edition of InStyle Magazine!

This gift set includes “Candy“, a poem by Poet Laureate, Mark Strand and artwork by Wendy Mark.  It also includes two our our Valentine’s motifs – the Hearts Of Gold and the Gold Heart engraved stationery.

This and many other Valentine’s gift ideas can also be found in our 2010 Valentine’s Gift Guide.

Be generous with your love. Be personal with your love. Communicate your love. Preserve your love. Celebrate your love. Be grateful for your love.

All this with a Valentine’s gift from Thornwillow.

Click to browse our Valentine’s gift guide featuring engraved stationery, leather bound books, and Valentine’s gifts for the reader, writer and lover of the written word.

Celebrate the Written Word
Thornwillow Press, Ltd.

Click the button above to take you to the Thornwillow Gift Guide

to view a special collection of

limited edition books, engraved stationery, leather bookbinding,

and library accessories for the holidays.

]]> http://www.thornwillow.com/2009/11/2009-thornwillow-gift-guide/feed/ 0 http://www.thornwillow.com/2009/10/thornwillow-engraved-stationery-featured-on-the-so-haute-blog/ http://www.thornwillow.com/2009/10/thornwillow-engraved-stationery-featured-on-the-so-haute-blog/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:35:14 +0000 Thornwillow Press http://www.thornwillow.com/?p=562

We are honored to have our engraved stationery featured in another blog!  This time, the salutations come from So Haute, who features Thornwillow Press in their 5 Favorites For Social Stationery category.  We are definitely flattered that they decided to feature our Peacock Feather, Lightning Bolt, Bicycle and Initial Note engraved stationery, but there are many more for the stationery enthusiast to choose from!

Here is what So Haute had to say about our engraved stationery

“Luke Pontifell was just a precocious high school student when he founded Thornwillow Press in 1985 after taking a book binding course and falling in love with the art. Nearly 30 years later Thornwillow press is still in the business of binding, printing and publishing exquisite books but is also now one of the foremost purveyors of fine engraved and letterpress stationery. I’m a big fan of their Initial Note Cards, shown below, which are available in three colorways with colored edges and matching tissue lined envelopes. At $45 for 10 cards and envelopes, these are amazing value for the quality. Thornwillow’s Motif cards are available in more than 100 motifs and my top three picks are also pictured below. The Peacock Feather motif is $48 for 10 cards and lined envelopes. The Lightning Bolt and Bicycle motif cards are each $35 for a set of 10 cards.”

So don’t forget to check back with Thornwillow and and a new Friend of Thornwillow, the So Haute blog website.

Bicycle engraved stationery

Lightning Bolt engraved stationery

Peacock Feather engraved stationery

Franki Durbin writes about Thornwillow’s Engraved Stationery:

As much as I love emailing, blogging and texting (and I do love to text!), nothing compares to a handwritten note. There’s soething almost magical about getting something in the mail that someone has taken the time two personally write out with ink. Handwriting says something about the person. The words have so much meaning. How was it signed? With a sufficient “sincerely” or with a meaningful “love always” above the name?

Lately it seems some are even too busy to add much more text to a pre-printed birthday card. Just a simple, “Happy Birthday” written beneath the content of the card. Are we really so busy, so self-involved, so disconnected?

Take a moment, make a connection, write a letter, send a card, say thank you, deepen a friendship or build a new one. Just try it. You may even find that you enjoy it.

I might add one more thing… if you feel uninspired to write I am going to assume you don’t possess a correspondence set that is pretty enough. Trust me, if you obtain a collection of paper goods pretty enough, you’ll be jumping at the chance to show the world how fabulous your paper goods look….

Engraved Stationery - Royal Palm Motif

Engraved Stationery - Ballet Slippers

Engraved Stationery - Double Happiness

{This Lovely Engraved Stationery was found at Thornwillow, which sounds appropriately British but is actually located in New York.}

Life in A Venti Cup

Choose from definitive editions of America’s greatest poetry, short stories, novels, speeches, letters, history and literature. Give volumes as gifts to celebrate special turning points in the lives of friends and family and collect favorite writings yourself.

Volumes from the Library of America bound by Thornwillow

Binding Options – Choose either:

Half Leather bindings which have leather spines with raised bands, leather corners, a coordinating gold tooled label, handmade decorative paper boards and endpapers, hand-sewn head and tail bands, a ribbon page marker and a gilt top edge.

Full leather bindings which are covered entirely in leather with raised bands, a coordinating gold tooled label, handmade decorative endpapers, hand-sewn head and tail bands, a ribbon page marker and a gilt top edge.

The History of the Library of America as described on it’s wonderful website:

The idea for The Library of America was first discussed among scholars and literary critics who were concerned that many works by America’s finest writers were either out of print or nearly impossible to find. Without a deliberate publishing effort to preserve American writing, many important works would virtually disappear and be lost to future generations. Deprived of an important part of their cultural inheritance, Americans would lose a collective sense of the country’s literary accomplishments. The Pléiade series published in France provided a model, and discussion of a similar American series continued until the late 1970s, when seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation was secured to create The Library of America. The first volumes were published in 1982.

Like the historic preservation movement, which originated in the 1920s with concerns about architectural heritage, The Library of America seeks to restore and pass on to future generations our nation’s literary heritage. This entails something never attempted before: not only publishing these volumes but keeping them permanently in print and widely available to readers.

In the years since The Library of America’s inception it has come to be recognized by both scholars and the general public as the national edition of our country’s literature. The series has won the National Book Critics Circle special award for “distinguished contributions to the enhancement of American literary and critical standards.” It has also received the “Ambassador of Honor” title from the English-Speaking Union and the Carey- Thomas Award for Creative Publishing.

Half leather bindings