HISTORY OF LETTER https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Letter_(message)

Historically, letters have existed from the time of ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer,
through Rome, Greece and China, up to the present day. During the seventeenth and eighteenth
century, letters were used to self-educate. Letters were a way to practice critical reading, self-expressive
writing, polemical writing and also exchange ideas with like-minded others. For some people, letters
were seen as a written performance. For others, it was not only seen as a performance but also as a way
of communication and a method of gaining feedback. Letters make up several of the books of
the Bible. Archives of correspondence, whether for personal, diplomatic, or business reasons, serve
as primary sources for historians. At certain times, the writing of letters was thought to be an art form
and a genre of literature, for instance in Byzantine epistolography.[4]

In the ancient world letters were written on a various different materials, including metal, lead, wax-
coated wooden tablets, pottery fragments, animal skin, and papyrus. From Ovid, we learn
that Acontius used an apple for his letter to Cydippe.[5]

As communication technology has diversified, posted letters have become less important as a routine
form of communication. For example, the development of the telegraph drastically shortened the time
taken to send a communication, by sending it between distant points as an electrical signal. At the
telegraph office closest to the destination, the signal was converted back into writing on paper and
delivered to the recipient. The next step was the telex which avoided the need for local delivery. Then
followed the fax (facsimile) machine: a letter could be transferred from the sender to the receiver
through the telephone network as an image. These technologies did not displace physical letters as the
primary route for communication, however today, the internet, by means of email, plays the main role
in written communications; however, these email communications are not generally referred to as
letters but rather as e-mail (or email) messages, messages or simply emails or e-mails, with only the
term "letter" generally being reserved for communications on paper.