Following up on Brent Tarter's message: there is a brief treatment of
"letter forms" in Fowler's Modern English Usage (1944 edition), which
notes three contexts in which "your obedient servant" might [still] be
used: in letters "from or to officials"; in "letters to the Editor in
newspapers"; and in letters from "servant to master &c."
The newest (Burchfield, 3rd) edition of Fowler, though a fine reference,
has no additional commentary on this phrase.
Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Director of General Education
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
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