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Article: Antiques: Dropping a few lines - or a watercolour - to a friend; Before the fax and before email, people sent their friends personal and beautiful letters. Richard Edmonds looks at the now highly collectable art with some famous examples.
- Article from:
- The Birmingham Post (England)
- Article date:
- February 19, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Illustrated letters were immensely popular during the 19th century. Friends, who were very close to each other, would decorate both writing paper and envelope with sketches, watercolours, pen and ink drawings or coloured scraps.
The result was a highly personalised document showing that the recipient was held in high regard. However, if the letter writer was an artist the result was frequently something so beautiful that it was certainly not to be disposed of lightly or lost.
People kept their decorated letters rather proudly, and in later years they were ...