Literary link as letter from Byron's future wife is sold

Literary link as letter from Byron's future wife is sold

A RARE letter written by the future wife of Lord Byron and containing extracts from a then unpublished poem is being sold by a collector in the Borders. The four-page letter was written by Annabella Isabella Milbanke and is signed "AIM". It also contains a lock of hair, thought to be hers.

It bears the postmark Ashby de la Zouch/123 and was written on 21 April. There is no year date, although the postmark and the general content of the letter has led experts to believe it was written around 1813. It contains a section of The Giaour, which Byron first drafted in 1812 and whose first verses were published in June 1813. The draft contained in the letter differs slightly from the published version. The letter was sent from Staunton Harrold, the seat of the Earl Ferrers, and mentions various people and places in Annabella's life, including Byron, her close friend Lady Gosford and Seaham, her family seat. The letter, which is owned by a woman in Inverness, has an estimated value of £4,750 and is being sold by Border Stamps in Jedburgh. This article: http://heritage.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=978312006