Section IV · Dispatches Issued irregularly since MCMXC

Letters we have written.

Annual letters · acquisition notes · partner remembrances

We publish little, and seldom on schedule. Our annual letter goes out in February, our quarterly note rarely. Everything else is occasioned by a transaction worth recording, a death worth marking, or a question worth answering at length.

§ I Most Recent · April 2026

Letter from the Chair

On owning a printing press in 2026

When Meridian & Bell joined the partnership in 1996, the trade press wrote our cheque off as nostalgia. Thirty years on, the press remains profitable, the readership has aged in place, and the balance sheet is unencumbered. A short reflection on the strange economics of low growth, low capital, and long memory.

14 April 2026 · Marcus T. Halloran · 12 min read

Read the letter

§ II From the Archive

Twenty-six
irregular dispatches.

A complete archive going back to our 1990 inaugural letter. Most run to between two and ten pages. The 2008 issue, famously, runs to a page and a half.

02 · III · 2026 Acquisition

Showing 12 of 26 dispatches

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§ III By Topic

Annual Letters

38 letters · since 1990

A complete record of the partnership's annual addresses to its shareholders, employees, and correspondents.

Acquisition Notes

41 transactions

A short note accompanies each completed acquisition, explaining the company, the seller, and our reasons for being its next owner.

Remembrances

14 notices

Brief tributes to founders, operators, and partners who have died in the firm's service. We mark each one in the next quarterly letter.

Letters we have written.

On owning a printing press in 2026

Twenty-sixirregular dispatches.

Tidewater joins the group; we say a few words about insurance.

The 2025 partnership letter — a quieter year than most.

A short remembrance of W. Halberd, who built one of our pipelines.

On the merits of a balance sheet that nobody talks about.

Why we acquired a small geothermal company in Boise.

Mid-year remarks on the limits of macroeconomic forecasting.

What we learned from forty years of saying no.

The 2024 partnership letter — a year of quiet operating gains.

A succession announcement: Eleanor Vance steps back.

On the discipline of keeping the headquarters small.

Why we will continue to decline most invitations to comment.

The 2023 partnership letter — on managing through a credit cycle.

The dispatches arriveby post, or — if you prefer —by email.

38 letters · since 1990

41 transactions

14 notices

Twenty-six
irregular dispatches.

The dispatches arrive
by post, or — if you prefer —
by email.