The Book Of Love Letters

If a picture speaks a thousand words, a love letter speaks a thousand more . . . Even in this age of e-mail, faxes, and instant messaging, nothing has ever replaced the power of a love letter. Much the way light displays every color when passed through a prism, love letters express the spectrum of our emotions, offering a colorful glimpse into the soul of the writer, and of the writer's beloved. For passionate readers and lovers of words, a letter is irresistible. Internationally renowned collector David Lowenherz sifted through hundreds and hundreds of historical and contemporary epistles and selected the most ardent, witty, whimsical, sexy, clever, and touching letters for this inspiring collection. Unlike interviews or biographies, these letters give us marvelous insight into the lives of some of history's most famous lovers and provide intimate glimpses into the hearts of some whose fervent or amusing expressions of devotion will come as a great surprise. Zelda Fitzgerald to Scott Fitzgerald Michelangelo Buonarroti to Vittoria Colonna Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toConstanze Mozart Harry Truman to Bess Wallace Khalil Gibran to Mary Haskell Benjamin Franklin to Madame Brillon Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton George Bush to Barbara Pierce Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn Elizabeth Barrett Browning to George Barrett Jack London to Anna Strunsky Marc Chagall to Bella Chagall Ernest Hemingway to Mary Welsh Jack Kerouac to Sebastian Sampas Alfred Dreyfus to Lucie Dreyfus Marjorie Fossa to Elvis Presley Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West Ludwig van Beethoven to the "Immortal Beloved" Emma Goldman to Ben Reitman Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera Dylan Thomas to Caitlin Thomas Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine Bonaparte Abigail Smith to John Adams John Ruskin to Euphemia Ruskin George Sand to Gustave Flaubert Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren Anais Nin to Henry Miller Voltaire to Marie Louise Denis James Thurber to Eva Prout George Bernard Shaw to Stella Campbell Sarah Bernhardt to Jean Richepin Marcel Proust to Daniel Halevy Frank Lloyd Wright to Maude Miriam Noel Anne Sexton to Philip Legler Elizabeth I to Thomas Seymour Oscar Wilde to Constance Lloyd Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Maury Charles Parnell to Katherine O'Shea Lewis Carroll to Clara Cunnyngham

Past and present collide in this heartfelt novel of love and loss from the National Book Award–winning author of A Wrinkle in Time. After the tragic death of her son and the seeming collapse of her marriage, Charlotte Napier flees to Portugal in the hopes of finding guidance from her mentor: her mother-in-law, Violet. Instead, she finds solace in the letters of Mariana Alcoforado, a seventeenth-century nun. Charlotte and Mariana’s stories may be different in origin, but they share the same inner turmoil. As she reads the letters, Mariana’s spiritual journey sheds light on Charlotte’s own crisis. Finding inspiration in the nun’s struggles with sin, temptation, and faith, Charlotte gains perspective on her own mind—and sets out to accept the demanding, challenging nature of love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Madeleine L’Engle including rare images from the author’s estate.

It's easy enough to say I love you. But lovers often want more creative ways to express their passion, explore their devotion, and communicate their affection. These two Welcome Enterprises titles-A Little Book of Love Poems and Letters and A Little Book of Love Stories and Recipes-will give them just the right place to start.Within the pages of these two delightful small books, readers will find the most intimate letters by some of the world's most romantic lovers, the best classic love poems of all time, aphrodisiac recipes for meals, and excerpts from some of the finest love-oriented literature. A previous format, The Little Book of Love sold more than 50,000 copies. These new editions should be even more popular.

Well before there was a country called Canada, newcomers to this land were writing loving letters to one another and sending them via sleigh and boat, cart and stagecoach. The earliest one in this book is dated 1786, written in ornate prose by William Smith, the chief justice of Quebec, to his wife stuck in the United States. In the 137 years since Confederation, kinfolk, friends, old married couples, and especially young lovers have declared on paper their caring and passion. In the twenty-first century, love letters endure: the most recent one in this collection is a Valentine's Day paean written by rock star Randy Bachman to his wife on a laptop in 2004. The letters in this unique collection are moving, dramatic, funny, and remind us that falling in love is an almost universal experience.

The late John Cheever once insisted that saving a letter is like trying to preserve a kiss. Luckily for us, the loved ones of great writers ranging from Sappho to Anne Sexton, from Anton Chekhov to Mr. Cheever himself have ignored that clever dictum. In more than one hundred of the most powerful, witty, wicked and whimsical letters ever written, we chronicle passion's erratic progress. Why should Marcus Aurelius's amorous words sit side by side with John Steinbeck's letter to the woman who inspired much of his late work? Distinguished scholar Cathy Davidson argues that the love letter is a form of literature all its own, a genre whose language may have changed from ancient Rome to twentieth-century America but whose basic form and content remain the same. For if all literature is a kind of seduction, then the love letter becomes the perfect vehicle for writers to hone their seductive skills. With novelistic flair, Ms. Davidson has arranged these letters as though they were all part of one romance - a romance in which any of us may have played a part. From the joy of Falling in Love to the pain of Unrequited Love, we chart the evolution of that most hard-to-define emotion. These pages are filled with glorious examples of writers being just like the rest of humanity, to wit: willing to stake so much on what at times seems like nothing more than a promise and an act of faith. How delightful to discover the master of light verse Ogden Nash writing tenderly to a woman he first saw across a crowded room nine months earlier: This is a particularly gifted and intelligent pen. Look what it's writing now: I love you. That's a phrase I can't get out of my head - but I don't want to. I'vewanted to try it out for a long time; I like the look of it and the sound of it and the meaning of it. Of course what writers do better than anyone else is to write about love. Through Ms. Davidson's deft touch, The Book of Love becomes a treasure trove of literary discovery. She

A voyeuristic look at modern romance brings together an assortment of actual love letters, written by a diverse cross section of people, that appear exactly as they were originally written, offering candid insights into how people think about love.

From the private papers of Mark Twain and Mozart to those of Robert Browning and Nelson, Love Letters of Great Men collects together some of the most romantic letters in history. For some of these great men, love is a ‘delicious poison’ (William Congreve); for others, ‘a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music’ (Charles Darwin). Love can scorch like the heat of the sun (Henry VIII), or penetrate the depths of one’s heart like a cooling rain (Flaubert). Every shade of love is here, from the exquisite eloquence of Oscar Wilde and the simple devotion of Robert Browning, to the wonderfully modern misery of the Roman Pliny the Younger, losing himself in work to forget how much he misses his beloved wife, Calpurnia. Taken together, these Love Letters of Great Men show that perhaps men haven’t changed so very much over the last 2,000 years; passion, jealousy, hope and longing are all represented here – as is the simple pleasure of sending a letter to, and receiving one from, the person you love most.

A guide for lovers, with model letters, historical examples, and practical advice for all occasions.