London - December 21, 2005

Softly Spoken

Billet Doux Stationery

Welcome. You have 108 e-mails.

And it’s only 9 a.m.

Ninety-nine of them are offering you a penis extension, hot sex with under-age girls or some combination of the two; the remaining nine are from the happy freeloaders you had for dinner last night. They ate your food, drank your wine and left at 4 a.m. And now they assume a few gushing lines by e-mail will suffice.

Hardly.

Billet Doux offers a small but lovingly formed collection of stationery for those who want to express their words by hand. The cards come in soft shades of sherbet with gold borders and matching, tissue-lined envelopes. The Claridge is beautifully British, the Medina deliciously Eastern, and the Sicily is an olive leaf design that’s so pretty you’ll want to send it to yourself.

The cards make beautiful invitations for parties and weddings (R.I.P. the mass e-vite) and are ideal for thank-you letters. So much more impressive — and persuasive — than an e-mail.

And far less likely to be confused with a message about erectile dysfunction.

Available at Liberty, 210-220 Regent Street, W1 (020 7734 1234); online at billetdoux.co.uk.