Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance

A pre-Valentine's Day dip into the most intimate world of the handwritten love letter, with fascinating readings, discussion and insights into the private relationships of people across centuries and cultures.

Special guests, including acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba, join British Library curator Andrea Clarke, editor of Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance, a new anthology of letters by Henry VIII, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Horatio Lord Nelson, Oscar Wilde, Mervyn Peake and many others.

While many anthologies of love letters exist, a book reproducing actual love letters in the author's own hand has not previously been published. This book features letters from Ancient Egypt to the present day. The original manuscripts of such letters grant the reader a direct connection with the person who actually wrote those words, often many centuries ago. 

This charming book reproduces and transcribes in full 25 love letters, with engaging commentaries about the correspondents and their circumstances, as well as portraits of the writers and recipients. Andrea Clarke is Curator of Early Modern Historical and Classical Manuscripts at the British Library.