The founding collection

The First 42

Forty-two letters, lives, poems, and exchanges. 42 is the editorial seal, not a head-count.

1. 01
   Sister Without Rival

   New Kingdom Egypt · Waset (Thebes)

2. 02
   The Shepherd in the Dry Season

   Early Mesopotamia · Uruk (Unug, Warka)

3. 03
   Equal to the Gods

   Archaic Greece · Mytilene

4. 04
   Ospreys

   Zhou China · Yellow River basin

5. 05
   Rise Up, My Love

   Levant, first millennium BCE · The Levant

6. 06
   Red Earth and Pouring Rain

   Sangam Tamilakam · Madurai region

7. 07
   The Empty Threshold

   High Roman Empire · Comum (Como)

8. 08
   At last it is come

   Rome, late 1st century BCE · Rome

9. 09
   I Go My Way with Pride

   Taifa-period al-Andalus · Córdoba

10. 10
    The Woman in the Deutzia Month

    Heian Japan · Heian-kyō (Kyoto)

11. 11
    A Gossamer Life

    Heian Japan · Heian-kyō (Kyoto)

12. 12
    When He Dances Elsewhere

    Sena-period Bengal · Bengal (with Puri tradition)

13. 13
    The Man Who Went to the Wilderness

    Seljuk-period Caucasus · Ganja

14. 14
    Héloïse Will Not Be a Plot

    Twelfth-century Paris · Paris

15. 15
    A chantar m'er

    Occitania, late 12th century · Die

16. 16
    If you love me you will

    England · Chicksands Priory

17. 17
    Everlasting Sorrow

    Tang dynasty · Chang’an

18. 18
    From Tomis

    Tomis, 8 to 17 CE · Tomis

19. 19
    Myongwol

    Joseon Korea · Songdo (Kaesong)

20. 20
    Kiss Me Again

    Lyon, French Renaissance · Lyon

21. 21
    To Her Vicereine, and to Learning

    New Spain · Mexico City

22. 22
    Chunhyang at Namwon

    Joseon, pansori tradition · Namwon

23. 23
    The Songs Below the Palace

    Tibet, Sixth Dalai Lama · Lhasa

24. 24
    Six Records

    Qing China, late 18th century · Suzhou

25. 25
    Yi Jian Mei

    Song China, early 12th century · Zhangqiu

26. 26
    Plas Newydd

    Ireland and Wales, late Georgian · Llangollen

27. 27
    The Swim to Mokoia

    Te Arawa oral tradition · Owhata

28. 28
    Remember the ladies

    Massachusetts and Philadelphia · Braintree

29. 29
    Unsterbliche Geliebte

    Teplitz, July 1812 · Teplitz (Teplice)

30. 30
    Two Luxuries

    England and Rome, 1819 to 1821 · Hampstead

31. 31
    Let Me Count the Ways

    London, 1845 to 1846 · 50 Wimpole Street

32. 32
    A Hedge Away

    Amherst, mid-nineteenth century · Amherst

33. 33
    Dear Pete

    Washington, from 1865 · Washington

34. 34
    If I Do Not Return

    Washington, July 1861 · Camp Clark, Washington

35. 35
    Crypthand

    Halifax, 1832 to 1840 · Shibden Hall, Halifax

36. 36
    Libertadora del Libertador

    Andes and Pacific, 1822 to 1856 · Quito

37. 37
    Il est neuf heures

    France, 1759 to 1774 · Paris

38. 38
    Before the marriage

    Leipzig, 1837 to 1840 · Leipzig

39. 39
    Special Licence

    Kimberley, 1897 to 1898 · Kimberley

40. 40
    From the Italian Campaign

    Italian campaign, 1796 · Milan

41. 41
    The Cloud Messenger

    Gupta-period India · Rāmagiri (associated with Ramtek)

42. 42
    Odi et amo

    Rome, 1st century BCE · Rome