Of the billions of pieces of correspondence that have been sent through the ages- via messenger, pony express, post office, email and carrier pigeon – many have proved to be either significant, historic, inspiring, fascinating, heartbreaking…or some combination of them all.

Collected here is a sampling of these letters; some by famous figures from world history, others from ordinary citizens – soldiers, scientists and creative artists. But each of these pieces of correspondence have stood the test of time and deserve recognition as some of the most important, moving and historically resonant letters ever written.  

Fort Raphael Publishing has selected over three dozen letters for this unique collection, which range from St. Paul spreading the gospel in the years following the death of Christ, all the way up to President Nixon’s speechwriter preparing a draft of a speech to be delivered in the event the moon landing ended in disaster. Winston Churchill chastising an isolationist in the weeks leading up to World War II. Abraham Lincoln’s letter of condolence to a mother who lost her sons in the Civil War. Frida Kahlo severing her relationship with her husband. Dorothy Parker grumbling about her tedious hospital stay. Mohandas Gandhi pleading with Adolph Hitler for world peace. Napoleon Bonaparte demanding more letters from his wife Josephine. Vincent Van Gogh patching things up with his estranged brother. Physicist Richard Feynman penning a love letter to his deceased wife. Author Bram Stoker writing a fan letter to his idol, Walt Whitman (and Whitman’s response!). Jane Austen, the day after a huge party, lamenting her lingering hangover. And King Henry VIII courting Anne Bolyn in a series of love letters, she little suspecting how horribly their future marriage will end.  

From the hilarious to the sublime, heartbreaking to ridiculous, these are some of the greatest and most important letters ever written.