Post boxes dedicated to men and women of letters

In the age of online messaging, Royal Mail is hoping to rekindle a fondness for the handwritten love letter this Valentine’s Day by dedicating postboxes to some of Britain’s greatest romantic wordsmiths.

Quotes from the works of poets John Keats and Anna Seward, novelist Thomas Hardy and bard Robert Burns will adorn four red postboxes throughout the UK.

Mark Street, from Royal Mail, said: “As one of the guardians of the written word, we relish the opportunity to celebrate the life and times of some of Britain’s most treasured writers.

“With such a rich history of producing some of the most famous romantic works of all time, it seems only fitting that their work is honoured on some of our iconic postboxes.”

The postboxes are in London, Lichfield, Dorset and Ayr – places associated with the writers.

Picture: PA. Actors from Keats House Museum with a postbox in honour of poet John Keats in Hampstead Heath, London.