On Keeping a House Cool Without Much Machinery
The issue that arrived during a rather uncompromising August. Includes the long piece on shutters, and a short one, much reprinted by readers, on iced tea that is actually cold.
Thirteen Years, Fifty-Two Issues
Back Issues, with a Few Notes from the Editor.
We have tried to keep things findable. Below: the last several years, in reverse order, each with a line or two about what the editor remembers of it.
A Guide to Weddings You Did Not Plan
Written after the editor had, in one season, attended four. Contains the rule about never offering an opinion on a dress, and a defense of the handwritten note that arrives three weeks late.
The Long Evenings Issue
On soups, on lamplight, on how to be alone in a house without being lonely in it. Many readers have written to say this was their favorite. The editor does not disagree.
Apples, and Other Matters
The tenth issue, and therefore a small anniversary. Includes a conversation with an orchardist about the fourteen varieties she grows and the three she would not be without.
On Guests, and the Small Art of Not Wearing Them Out
The essay readers most often send to their newly married friends. The editor has not told them to stop.
Mending
A whole issue on mending — clothes, friendships, a chipped teapot, a misread silence. The editor is fond of this one, though he admits the metaphor strains in one place.
A Short History of the Tea-Towel
Longer than the title suggests. Worth it, we are told.
A note: earlier issues (I through VI) exist only in typewritten form, and are held in a cabinet the editor's niece is slowly persuading him to let her scan. Readers who ask, through a mutual reader, are sometimes sent a photocopy.