Taken from Gallica, the photo shows Peiresc's signature in a letter from the 1630s.
In an article in Slate, End Email Signoffs, the author questions the closings of emails, especially things like warm, kind or fond regards.
For many of us, the use and type of close depends on the circumstances (formal v. informal) or tone. Business or job letters, exchanges with a state or federal agency (where email is a matter of public record) need a close (“sincerely” works great). In informal exchanges, I’ll use “all the best” to avoid an abrupt tone that implies I am far too busy to be bothered with courtesy.
I have personal reasons for some closings. My tango friends sign as “tango hugs,” which translates we can’t wait to see one another at the next milonga. One friend and I sign our emails exchanges as “your friend and fan,” shorthand for our years as colleagues and continued encouragement in creative ventures. My family and I use the “xoxo.” My kids don’t.
I devoted most of my research to a study of a 17th-century natural philosopher, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, known for his extensive use of letters to spread the new science. He often signed his lengthy missives with a short close--“your humble servant.” Admittedly, I will lament the loss of historical documents. . . . .But I digress.
The trend favoring a shorter close has impacted even the French. For years I struggled to perfect the “Veilllez-agréer, Monsieur, l’expression de mes sentiments distingués” to learn that now it has been replaced by “cordialement” in formal settings or “amicalement” or “A+” for friends, if anything at all.
Although the author of the article proposes ending email signoffs “forever,” I’m not ready to relinquish it altogether. At least, not yet.
How do you sign your emails?
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