BLACKBURN AND SWEETZER

Handwritten cards and letters and notes really are a thing of the past. There are two people in my life who have always sent these cherished personal gestures: my aunt Trynka and my mom. I have boxes filled with letters and cards from both as I’ve kept all of them. As I result - though I’m not nearly as diligent a correspondent - I love stationery and have to stop myself from buying too much of it. Leave it to Assouline to create this cleverly interactive Proust Stationery Set ($120, vivre.com); along with your personal note, the receiver gets the personality-revealing Proust Questionnaire to, hopefully, answer and send back to you. The set also includes Marcel Proust’s handwritten replies.