Found while looking through my bookmarks the other day, a blog post from back in 2010 talking about something even earlier:
A (personalized and encouraging) rejection letter from William Dean Howells, in 1900.
I don’t know if Howells also had a stack of pre-printed “your manuscript does not meet our needs at the present time” letters, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find out that he did.
Dr. Doyle's Blog 
Thanks for sharing this look into the publishing industry from years past! Great link!