Handmade Valentine addressed to Miss Mary Guttery, near Doncaster,

Bookseller Notes

The well-spring at Barnsdale, near Doncaster, known as Robin Hood's Well was first recorded by local antiquary Roger Dodsworth as 'Robbinhood-well' in 1622. In 1710 a finely-cut arched limestone well cover was erected there designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for the Earl of Carlisle, and it thereafter became a tourist site and meeting place into the nineteenth century. The above Valentine shows it was also just the place to secrete a letter from one lover to another.