Have you heard of cross writing?  I hadn't until recently.

Cross writing is a little known, yet ingenious, writing technique
used in the 18th and 19th centuries and is completely fascinating.

Also referred to as "cross-hatching," the technique occurs when the writer reaches the bottom of the page, turns the paper sideways and continues writing.

Why would they do that?  Until the 20th century paper was expensive and a luxury mainly afforded by the affluent.  By cross writing, the letter's author was able to get twice as much information on the same amount of paper.

Another reason cross writing was employed in the 18th and 19th centuries was because postage delivery was charged per page or by the size of the paper.

New York Review of Books
Dated Feb. 8, 1807, this letter from Jane Austen to her
sister, Cassandra, is a classic example of cross writing.

Britannia Rules
Always economical, Austen abhorred waste and frequently used
cross writing to save money.  Above is a photo of the actual desk
Austen used when writing her novels and correspondence.

BMD

Cross-writing is not as hard to read as you might imagine.  The
brain processes reading left to right and writing in another direction
basically becomes 'wallpaper' in the background.



Source
Caroline Weston of Boston, an avid abolitionist, used cross-writing
in a letter to her sister, Deborah Weston, dated March 3, 1837.  It
is in the rare books and archives section of the Boston Public Library.

Scottish emigrant William Knox used cross-writing in a letter
to his uncle, Andrew Redford, when describing his journey to
Canada in 1838.

Source
A cross-written letter dated Sept. 4, 1842, from
Richard Dadd (1817-1886) to David Roberts.

Special Collections

British Captain Christopher E. Blackett wrote a letter to his father
on Sept. 21, 1854, during the Crimean War.  The technique of cross-
writing was used by many soldiers to save paper.  The letter was
acquired by the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives
of the Cambridge University Library in 2000.




Library Land
Charles Darwin employed cross-writing in many of his letters.

Source
Henry James, author of Washington Square (1880), Portrait of A Lady
(1881), The Bostonians (1886), The Ambassadors (1903), The Golden
Bowl (1904), and other novels and periodicals used the technique of
cross-writing for many of his manuscripts.
Source

Most cross-written letters are fairly easy to read but one of James' personal letters, right, is almost indecipherable.

While cross-writing was employed in previous centuries to save money,
writers in the 21st century might consider using the technique to reduce paper
waste.  But, wait a minute - when was the last time you wrote a letter?!