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2026
JANUARY
15.01 DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI TO HIS AUNT CHARLOTTE — Rossetti writes to his aunt about his controversial poem Jenny
11.01 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT TO THOMAS NILES — Alcott writes to her publisher, saying that she appreciates her blessings, despite her ill health
08.01 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART TO HIS FATHER LEOPOLD — Mozart writes to his father about leaving his job, following years of being bullied and humiliated by his employer Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo
01.01 PAUL GAUGUIN TO GEORGE-DANIEL DE MONFREID — Gauguin writes to his friend about the painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? and the difficult circumstances under which it was made


2025 
DECEMBER
28.12 ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK TO PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY and TCHAIKOVSKY's reply — Dvořák praises the Russian composer after attending a performance of his opera Eugene Onegin
22.12 HARRIET BEECHER STOWE TO OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES and GEORGE ELIOT TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE — Correspondence regarding Stowe's controversial article in The Atlantic Monthly, claiming Lord Byron had an incestuous relationship with his half-sister
19.12 RAINER MARIA RILKE TO ARTHUR HOLITSCHER — Working as Auguste Rodin's personal assistant, Rilke writes to Hungarian writer Holitscher about the lessons the French sculptor is teaching him
09.12 LEWIS CARROLL TO ISABEL STANDEN — Carroll writes to a young friend and gives her advice on how to cope with change
06.12 CHARLOTTE BRONTË TO WILLIAM SMITH WILLIAMS — Brontë writes to her publisher's reader about how she is dealing with the deaths of her sisters Emily and Anne and her brother Branwell —losses that occurred within an eight-month period

NOVEMBER
30.11 ANTON CHEKHOV TO HIS BROTHER NIKOLAI — Chekhov writes a letter of advice, with his eight qualities of "cultured people"
27.11 FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN TO HIS FRIEND JAN MATUSZYŃSKI — Chopin feels alone and deserted in Vienna after the outbreak of the revolution in Warsaw and writes to his close friend Jan
21.11 DR. SIEGRIED WOLFF TO FRANZ KAFKA — Dr. Wolff asks Kafka to explain the meaning of his novella The Metamorphosis
16.11 LOUISA MAY ALCOTT TO HER SISTER ANNA — Alcott keeps her sister Anna updated about her life in Boston, ten years before the publication of Little Women
10.11 PAUL GAUGUIN TO THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF FINE ARTS — Gauguin seeks government support for his artistic mission to Tahiti
06.11 CASSANDRA AUSTEN TO FANNY KNIGHT — Jane Austen's sister Cassandra writes to Fanny, Jane's favourite niece, about the final days and hours of her beloved aunt
02.11 RICHARD WAGNER TO FRANZ LISZT — A desperate Wagner writes to his close friend Liszt, pleading for his help during a professional and financial crisis

OCTOBER
30.10 HARRIET BEECHER STOWE TO GEORGE ELIOT — Stowe writes to Eliot about Eliot's novel Middlemarch, its lack of "jollitude", and invites her to come to America
26.10 CHARLES DICKENS TO ELIZABETH GASKELL — Dickens asks Gaskell to write for his journal Household Words
19.10 FREDERIC LEIGHTON TO HIS MOTHER — Leighton complains about his paintings being poorly displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1861
15.10 JANE AUSTEN TO HER SISTER CASSANDRA — Austen writes to her sister about the publication of her novel Pride and Prejudice
12.10 JOHN SINGER SARGENT TO CLAUDE MONET — Sargent worries about not exhibiting at the Paris Salon and the opinion of his peers
10.10 PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY TO HIS SISTER ALEKSANDRA — Tchaikovsky writes about quitting his civil service job to follow his passion for music
04.10 CHARLOTTE BRONTË TO GEORGE HENRY LEWES — Brontë gives her criticism of Jane Austen


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Image: Letter to Cassandra Austen by Jane Austen; Bath, 12 May 1801 

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