From the AP (via SeattlePI.com)
“I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett …”
So begins the first love letter to 19th-century poet Elizabeth Barrett from her future husband, fellow poet Robert Browning.
Their 573 love letters, which capture their courtship, their blossoming love and their forbidden marriage, have long fascinated scholars and poetry fans. Though transcriptions of their correspondence have been published in the past, the handwritten letters could be seen only at Wellesley College, where the collection has been kept since 1930.
But starting Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, their famous love letters are available online, where readers can see them just as they were written — with creased paper, fading ink, quill pen cross-outs, and even the envelopes.
The digitization project is a collaboration between Wellesley and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, which houses the world’s largest collection of books, letters and other items related to the Brownings.
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The website set up for readers to see the correspondence includes both the handwritten letters and transcriptions, as well as a zoom function for readers to try to decipher faded or illegible words. The body of letters will also be searchable by keywords.
Direct to the New Digital Collection
Read the Complete Article
See Also: “Wellesley College’s Browning Love Letters have been digitized” (via LTS Rare, Wellesley College)
See Also: The Brownings: A Research Guide (via Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University)
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