Business Correspondence, Vol. 1: How to Write a Business Letter

by Anonymous

Copper or steel engravings are made from designs furnished either by the engraver or by some other designer. For simple engraved lettering such as is customarily used on business stationery, the cost of a copper plate is about ten cents a letter. For elaborate designs the costs increase proportionately. Steel plates, which are more durable, cost about sixty per cent more. Printing from such plates is considerably more expensive than the two processes previously described. Engraved letterheads cost from six dollars upward a thousand for the printing, while the envelopes cost approximately two dollars and fifty cents a thousand. The envelopes are usually printed from steel dies, which cost about ten cents a letter.

For large orders of stationery, exceeding 20,000 sheets, lithography offers economies in price and other advantages that render it more practical than metal engraving. The design is engraved upon stone and printed from the stone block. While the initial costs of lithography are high, ranging from $25.00 to $100.00 for the engraving (with an average cost of about $50.00), the price of printing is so moderate as to make this form of production popular among extensive users of business paper. Lithography gives a smooth, uniform and permanent impression on the paper, and permits of an indeterminate "run." The cost of printing from lithographic plates is practically the same as from steel or copper plates. The savings effected in large orders is in the cost of the plates, for copper and steel must be renewed as they become worn down.

The photogravure process is costly both in the plate-making and in the printing. While it gives a rich and uniform impression on the letter paper, and is highly valuable for reproducing pictures and ornate designs, it is adaptable only for special purposes and is not generally regarded as suitable for commercial work. A photogravure plate costs from seventy-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents a square inch, or about $12.00 to $50.00 for a letterhead. The printing costs about the same as for other engraved stationery. With other processes, somewhat similar in the market, this method of printing letterheads has not yet won extensive favor.

It is now almost universally recognized that a letter should be written on one side of the sheet only.

A copy should be kept of every communication that leaves the office. Either a carbon copy may be made at the time the letter is written—six good copies can be made simultaneously on the average typewriter, although one is usually sufficient—or a letter-press copy can be made from the sheet after it is signed. Both forms have been accepted by the courts as legal copies of correspondence.

Such copies are usually filed alphabetically either by the name of the company or individual to whom the letter is addressed.

Letter-press copies must necessarily be filed chronologically, even when separate books for each letter of the alphabet are maintained. In either case the search through the files for a letter copy is facilitated by placing the name, address and date of a letter at the top.

For the same reason the date of a letter should be placed in the upper right corner of the page; the recipient must know when the communication is sent; it may have a bearing on other communications. The name and address of the addressee, similar to the address on the envelope, should in all cases be placed, as the formal salutation, in the upper left corner of the sheet, whether the correspondent be greeted "Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen." Not only does this establish at once the exact individual for whom the communication is intended but it facilitates the filing of the correspondence, both by the recipient and by the sender.

The margins of a business letter, owing to the limitations of the typewriter, are usually variable. The space occupied by the letterhead must, of course, determine the margin at the top of the sheet. Theoretically, the margins at the left and right should be exactly the same size; practically, however, the typewriter lines will vary in length and cause an uneven edge on the right side. In printing, the use of many-sized spaces not only between words but at times, between the letters themselves rectifies these variations, but the typewriter does not permit this. The more even the right margin is and the more uniform it is to the left margin, the better the effect. The margins should be about one and a half inches in width. The margin at the bottom should not be less than the side margins. Should it be smaller, the page will appear cramped for space as the reading matter will be really running over into the margin—a typographical defect that is as noticeable on typewritten as on printed pages.

The spacing between the lines and between the paragraphs of a business letter may vary to suit the tastes of the individual, although considerations of a practical nature tend to establish a few general principles.