To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Family Tree has teamed up with the British Library to offer you the chance to win a copy of its recently published title Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance.
This is the first ever anthology to reproduce original love letters in each of the writers’ own hand. Featuring letters drawn from the library’s unique and vast collections, the romance spans from 168 BC to the 20th century and offers a rare insight into the intimate thoughts, feelings and desires of iconic individuals such as Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Horatio Lord Nelson, Oscar Wilde and Mervyn Peake.
For your chance to win, simply answer the question below by 28 February.
On what date does Valentine’s Day fall?
Charlotte Brontë’s letter to Professor Constantin Héger, November 1844, © British Library Board. Infatuated with her Belgian Professor, Charlotte wrote letters to him and despite the fact that Professor Héger tore up three of them and threw all four away, incredibly four of her letters have survived. Curiously, it is thanks to his wife – who retrieved them and sewed them back together – that we are able to read them today.
About Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance
Edited and written by Andrea Clarke, Curator of Early Modern Historical Manuscripts, Love Letters displays and transcribes in full 25 letters with engaging commentaries about the correspondents and their circumstances, as well as portraits of the writers and recipients. From the raw passion of Rupert Brooke’s letter to Cathleen Nesbitt – ‘I will kiss you till I kill you’ – to the hurt and dejected pre-wedding note from Charles Dickens to his fiancée – ‘do not trifle with me’ – Love Letters exposes ‘every shade of love’ through these personal and private letters between lovers over hundreds of years.
Charlotte Bronte © British Library Board
Andrea Clarke, author of Love Letters, says: ‘In an age of emails, tweets and texted “I luv u’s”, Love Letters invites us into a privileged realm and reminds us why the written word is so special. We are delighted to share these handwritten, intimate exchanges between couples – some famous, others now lost to history – with a wider audience.’
Love Letters is also available to buy from the British Library shop www.bl.uk/shop (020 7412 7735). ISBN 978 0712358255. RRP £10.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
• To enter the competition, you must answer the multiple choice question correctly.
• Closing date of the competition is 11.59pm on 28.2.12.
• There will be one winner, receiving a copy of Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance worth £10.
• Winners of the competition will be announced via the website www.family-tree.co.uk.
• Only one entry is permitted per person.
• Competition is open only to those aged 18 and over.
• No purchase is necessary to enter.
• There will be no cash or alternative prize available.
• The judges’ decision as to the winner is final.
• No correspondence will be entered into.
• Promoters reserve the right to amend or withdraw the competition without notice due to circumstances beyond their reasonable control.
