Image of the Month

An early Valentine's Day card from the family papers of Sir Nicholas O'Conor, a diplomat who served as envoy to China and Russia and as Ambassador to Turkey in the 1890s and early nineteen hundreds. O'Conor's papers contain not just the official correspondence of a nineteenth-century diplomat, but also his personal papers and diaries, and the personal and literary papers of his wife, Minna O'Conor, including her many novels, plays and poems. The O'Conors kept many souvenirs of their life together from various corners of the world, including this card. There is no inscription on the back, so unfortunately we don't know who sent it, who received it, or even how old it is, but it is nice to assume that Sir Nicholas gave it to his wife, and that she kept it as a precious souvenir throughout her married life.