100 World’s Greatest Love Letters

by Various

There was a time when people communicated through lettersand when it came to expressing their love, the correspondence brimmed with heartwarming, endearing love letters. Sometimes these letters were beginnings of tempestuous, controversial, clandestine love affairs and soon cultivated into relationships that lasted a lifetime, and at other times they were mere feverish rants, the intensity diminishing as soon as it had escalated. No matter who they werescholars, kings, queens, writers, paintersthey all fell passionately and irrevocably in love, their letters capturing their happiness, longing, insecurity, and even suspicion and distrust. We bring together a treasure trove of hundred beautiful letters from around the world in our edition. Beginning with Pliny the Younger, the magistrate of Ancient Rome, pining for his wife as he lay awake at night, and ending with Virginia Woolfs confession that her lady loves mere presence was intoxicating and even physically stimulating, the letters are accompanied by their profound love stories, telling a tale of how their love began, what turmoil it faced, and in some cases, why it ended.

Genres: Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2019

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Rima Sarmin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5

There was a time when people all around the world had only one way to communicate with each other: writing letters.

From Pliny the younger to Calpurnia in around 100-113 AD, from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in 1527, from Elizabeth Barrett to Robert Browning in 1845, and so on, love letters were sent all around the world.

This book has a collection of 100 love letters sent between 100-113 AD to 1928.

                                   *****

Here is my one-penny thought on this book. It's a nice book for sure. You get to read the love letters of some of the most historically famous people. And with the change of the timeline, you get to see how the language or the way of writing changes. I liked this part of the book.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The book was supposed to be about the greatest love letters ever written. But it turns out, almost all of them are written by famous people only, like Kings and Dutchess, Novelists and Poets.

Hardly any ordinary people's letters were featured here. And so many of these letters are written by people who were committing adultery by cheating on their partners. 

Some letters were good but most of them were meh. I had to skim through the pages. I did not have high expectations but I wasn't ready for this.

Not recommended!

[Chahna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved watching how the language changed with the period, since all the letters are arranged periodically, but not the sentiments.

[Samantha]

I wanted to love this—I really did. The idea of reading some of history’s most passionate and poetic confessions seemed like a dream. And while some of these letters were undeniably beautiful, they ultimately left me wanting more.

Maybe it was the selection, maybe it was the format, but something didn’t quite hit the spot. I craved deeper emotional weight, more context, more storytelling around the love behind the words. Instead, many of the letters felt fleeting—like reading whispers of emotions without fully stepping into the intensity of the love itself.

For hopeless romantics or history buffs, this might be a lovely collection. But for me? I needed something more immersive, something that didn’t just feel like an anthology but like a journey through love itself.

[Saeda Samir · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that gives you perspective about the essence of love across time.

[Rachita · Rating 2 out of 5]

If few letters had the reply or more context it would be a better read 😃

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love letter is best in the world

[Ritsom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complicated writing, PPL expressing love for other PPL comes poetic. You can get inspiration from it.

[Ritobina Chakraborty · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were to write a love letter it would start with Dear Creature too

P.S. since nobody was writing me one I had to resort to extreme options to read love letters

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has the 100 finest love letters of the world. The urgency of our times have pushed letters into one or two lined WhatsApp messages. I really appreciated the art of writing that has lost in these days. The letters were very creative and expressive that is totally lost in the current world. People with a love for language and appreciation for creativity should definitely read this.