Letters of note : correspondence deserving of a wider audience / compiled by Shaun Usher

Letters of Note is a collection of over one hundred of the world's most entertaining, inspiring and unusual letters, based on the seismically popular website of the same name - an online museum of correspondence visited by over 70 million people.

From Virginia Woolf's heart-breaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth II's recipe for drop scones sent to President Eisenhower; from the first recorded use of the expression "OMG" in a letter to Winston Churchill, to Gandhi's appeal for calm to Hitler; and from Iggy Pop's beautiful letter of advice to a troubled young fan, to Leonardo da Vinci's remarkable job application letter, Letters of Note is a celebration of the power of written correspondence which captures the humour, seriousness, sadness and brilliance that make up all of our lives.

Including letters from:

Zelda Fitzgerald, Iggy Pop, Fidel Castro, Leonardo da Vinci, Bill Hicks, Anaïs Nin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Amelia Earhart, Charles Darwin, Roald Dahl, Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, Dorothy Parker, John F. Kennedy, Groucho Marx, Charles Dickens, Katharine Hepburn, Kurt Vonnegut, Mick Jagger, Steve Martin, Emily Dickinson and many more.

Shaun Usher is a writer and sole custodian of the popular blog www.lettersofnote.com. His chosen career as a curator of correspondence is particularly interesting given that he regularly receives - and more often than not doesn't reply to - abuse from exasperated friends due to his apparent inability to return their calls, emails, and, on very rare occasions, letters. Shaun lives in Wilmslow with his wife Karina, and their two sons. Letters of Note is his first book. www.shaunusher.com Follow @LettersOfNote on Twitter