Love Letters of Great Men

Romantic writings from Beethoven, Byron, and many others—a collection inspired by the fictional book of letters seen in the movie Sex and the City. Love Letters of Great Men presents powerful declarations of love drawn from the private papers of history's greatest minds. For some, 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. In an age of texted "i luv u"s, this timeless collection reminds us that nothing can compare to the simple joy of sitting down to read a letter from the one you love.