Love Letters Of Great Men & Women

by Ursula Doyle (editor)

From the private papers of Jane Austen and Mozart to those of Anne Boleyn and Nelson, Love Letters of Great Men and Women 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). But what about the other side of the story? What of the secret hopes and lives of some of the greatest women in history? Taken together, these love letters show that perhaps little has changed 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. Includes letters Anne Boleyn * Beethoven * Edith Wharton * Mark Twain * Mary Wordsworth * Nell Gwyn (mistress of Charles II) * Elizabeth Barrett Browning * GK Chesterton * Queen Victoria * Napoleon Bonaparte * The Empress Josephine * Mary Wollstonecraft * Amadeus Mozart * Katherine Mansfield Praise for Love Letters of Great Men : ‘The most romantic book ever’ Daily Mail ‘Inspired by the Sex and the City movie... Famous men caught with pen in hand and heart in mouth’ The Times

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Romance, Poetry, Anthologies, Classics, Historical

300 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2009

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed this. I really almost want to go through it with a highlighter and marking passages and quotes. I'm a hopeless romantic, it's true so it was always going to appeal but in the collection we have letters from authors, leaders, politicians, composers, scientists and monarchs. We have Henry the VIII sending a portrait of himself as a sign of his affection to Anne Boleyn, and Anne Boleyn sending a letter back to him years later as she's imprisoned. We have Queen Victoria writing to Prince Albert making sure he was aware of his place in life before they were married, and then another where she wrote to King Leopold utterly heartbroken after Albert died. There is Beethoven's famous letters to his 'Immortal Beloved' and letters from famous womanisers like Lord Byron and Robert Burns.

Not all the stories are about happily ever after and a shocking number of letters are addressed to mistresses and bit's on the side, but some of the most beautiful moments comes from guys like Nathaniel Hawthorne (this entries title is from the beginning and end of his letter to his wife), or Robert Browning (who refused to marry for the remainder of his life and spent the last 28 years of his life alone because 'his heart was buried in Florence'), or Mozart who spent his letters teasing and joking with his wife.

It's just a beautiful book that I'm already trying to resist re-reading just because I need to get back on track in terms of churning out the books a little quicker.

[Mandi Ellsworth]

I confess, I didn't read every letter because I found this book mostly depressing, despite its promising title. It seemed that nearly everyone was either writing to a mistress or someone else's wife for the men's part. And don't even get me started on the crazy lives of the women they chose to highlight. The two couples I can say were actually sweet, were Mark Twain and his wife, and John and Abagail Adams. It also seems that everyone died of tuberculosis. It was a very interesting read, and if you skip a lot of the letters, it's quick. Just don't read it if you're a sap, like me, because it's not what you're looking for.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the brief biographical introductions to the letters' authors much more than the letters themselves. By only showcasing one or two letters from each great man or great woman, it was difficult to build up the love story. Also, I would have preferred to read the letters to and from the great men and women to understand the dialogue between lovers better.

This is a good coffee table book though as it is easy to dip in and out of.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit hit-and-miss, to be honest. Some letters by Henry VIII, Napoleon, Queen Victoria, and George Sand were really beautiful and insightful. For most of it, though, the letters weren't really romantic or passionate. Maybe a bit more research could've been done on it. Plus, the uber basic write-ups on each letter-writer were a tad annoying as they were too vague.

[Selma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love and that was all that this book was about. It was -- as the title says -- a collection of love letters, and it was really interesting to read. This book gave a different insight into the lives of these famous men and women to see their most intimate thoughts and to see how they expressed themselves.

There was a short introduction preceding each letter, giving a short history about the man or the woman telling the reader what they had done to be considered one of the greats. It also gave you a brief knowledge of the people whom you did not know anything about beforehand, which I found very interesting. The letters were well chosen as some of them touched upon some very important historical events and theories that were pertinent to the persons existence. The book boasted letters from people such as Oscar Wilde -- who, to be quite frank, had a weird obsession with feet -- to queen Alexandra of Russia; thus, providing a wide range of people.

Overall, I thought this was a really fun read with interesting information and facts about the authors of the letters allowing for a newfound view of them. Also allowing for a different side of these historical figures to be portrayed, meaning you get a different interpretation of their character and to a certain degree can understand why they did they things they did much better.

[Shin'itsirou Futono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exellent!!

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Aphrodite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I expected. I was always interested on the concept of what is behind the ‘myth’ on everything, including influential men and women, and this book somehow covers this aspect as it truly presents the more personal side of great people. I found myself in a delightful mood most of the time, while reading this book. I bought the book out of curiosity to see how men were expressing their affections (and maybe to compare the words of men vs. women? Idk) and wow, they can write alright and create something so beautiful. Now, I can say that I enjoyed men’s letters more than women’s, and yes, I could definitely see myself going back, re-reading some of the letters.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

The editing of this collection is a little heavy-handed, and some of the introductions to the authors of the letters are too long. However, the actual content is wonderful - a whole spectrum of the types and circumstances of love is covered, and I often had a huge smile on my face after reading them. Heartbreaking, life-affirming, all of that stuff and a sweet reminder as to how love can make us feel. Even if we don't write letters to our loves any more, the feelings remain the same, surely? That's the hope I took away from this collection, anyway.

[Vassilena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read only the letters of great men, as I was looking for some patterns to see. Truly, people in love are not that different from each other and it shows by their wording and approach to showing affection. I like how you can learn about the writer's background and compare it to his way of expressing affection. Some are better, some are worse, but those letters are a nice and easy read. The literary power is not that great, but the analysis you can do with the texts is quite fun.

[H.J. Aridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book-- This was my second copy, having given away my first. I can't tell you how much some of these letters bring a smile to my lips.

Out of every letter, I would advise you to pay particular attention to John Keat's. They are simply stunning.

Also, Oscar Wilde... living up to his name.

In all seriousness, it is a wonderful read to bring a smile to your heart when you're happy or give warmth to your soul when you are feeling down.

Do not miss this gem!!

[Despina Frantzi♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your average read-it-in-one-day book. It's a book to read inbetween other books. It's actually a nice collection of love letters,with all those cliche quotes and that swoony feeling. I didn't read it fast,because it's not a book that has a plot,it's just a collection. Nevertheless,being a hopeless romantic soul,I really liked it.

[Keixie Pallagud · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compilation of possibly the greatest true to life love letters, not to mention the history and story that goes along with it, ever written. The beauty of the words, the playful string of them all. It's not only soothing to the heart but to the mind too. Refreshing.

[Alyssa Shapland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful book that shows all the different ways that love has been expressed over the centuries, not just by well known individuals, but also the common man. I will read my favourite ones from this collection over and over again.

[Xy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Men had more to say in writing and expressed more than today.

[Amaal Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really liked the Men's pieces. wasn't fond of the Women's though

[Tiffany Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the reason why I love the older kind of love and not teenage love. :) The letters are so sweet!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me va a encantar

[Twisted.Plots · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: Love is good, but it can be greater!

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from Unity Books in Auckland right before I moved, because a friend had gotten me a gift certificate there for my birthday the prior year. I have been reluctant to acquire physical books, in part because I have so many that I still need to read, and carrying them with me to opposite sides of the world is not always practical. I figured, this at least could be something worth having a copy of.

The curation here leaves something to be desired. I think that is to be expected with a title making a declaration about who is considered great in our culture. Of course it's overwhelming western European, overwhelming aristocratic and upper class--who else would be writing letters and would have their papers preserved? What's 'great' is just marketing that sounds more romantic than 'famous' or 'people whose name you probably recognize.' The short biographies (well, some of them are bafflingly long) do little to really contextualize the letters, and serve more as justification in this narrow definition of 'great.' Of the sources noted at the end, many are existing collections of love letters (several more appropriately titled Love Letters of Famous People), which explains much about a book with a subtitle "Inspired by Sex and the City": it's a repackaged product.

It was a much more enjoyable experience jumping around the book, since we start at the men and in sort of a chronological order, with our second entry from a famed wife-murderer. This became a 'bathroom' book for a while, the type of thing to reach for when finding oneself in the toilet in need of entertainment (hey, we all are human). But I went through it properly the other night to make sure I have read them all. A glance at my copy shows that the second half is quite dog-eared and the first half untouched in comparison. Make of that what you will.

[KotrynaDž · Rating 3 out of 5]

“…>I think the sun has more reason to be proud of raising your spirits, than of raising all the plants, and ripening all the minerals in the earth.”(Alexander Pope)

“Nobility of souls is a beautiful and indestructible bond of friendship and of love.”(Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller)

“If my heart were base enough to love without being loved in return I would tear it to pieces.”(Napoleon Bonaparte)

“Love demands everything and is quite right, so it is for me with you, for you with me - only you forget so easily, that I must live for you and for me<…”(Ludwig van Beethoven)

“Is it not a real building of heaven, our Love - but as firm, too, as the citadel of heaven.”(Ludwig van Beethoven)

“You are to me an object intensely desirable - the air I breathe in a room empty of you is unhealthy.”(John Keats)

“One can feel satiety for human things, there is none for divine things, and this world alone can explain what you are for me.”(Honoré de Balzac)

“There are haters of beauty, who maintain that swans were really geese of a larger kind - one might say with equal justification that distance is only a close-up that has been pushed apart.”(Robert Schumann)

“Pleasure hides love from us, but pain reveals it in its essence.”(Oscar Wilde)

“Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.”(Abigail Smith (Adams))

“…>there are sentiments which are life itself, and which can only finish with it.”(Empress Joséphine)

“…>the youngest of hearts can also be steadfast in purpose.”(Clara Wieck (Schumann))

[Emma van den Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

So whereas there were quite a couple lovely letters in this collection, I did completely lose faith in love while reading it. Literally 95% of the men whose love letters were included were: 1) writing to their mistress whilst they were supposedly happily married to someone else, 2) writing to their new wives who in a couple years they were going to cheat on or 3) writing to a teenage girl who were at least 10 years younger than them. And let’s not forget if the guy doesn’t tick any of those boxes than you can be sure he at least mentions once that his lover is cruel for making him fall in love with her and that she put him in misery because of it.
And then we get to the love letters written by the women, and although it is better, in the sense that here it’s only like 50% of the women who will go on to cheat on their husbands. The other 50% still mostly exists of women who are clearly part of abusive relationships and women risking their livelyhoods for men who will cheat on them.
So all in all, the letters were prettily written, but for a collection of romantic letters it really managed to take the romance out of it.

[sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of love letter of great men and women of history (very much eurocentric 👀) that had my heart bursting with feelings every second sentence. I’m such a sucker for love, I wanted to sob at every word!

There’s a clear difference between the letters written by men and those written by women; a difference the editor is quick to point out in the introduction. Ursula Doyle explains that for men, their personal lives were only a small facet of their reputation, their greatness was measured by their achievements in other spheres. For women, their identity was often defined by who they married, who they birthed, and/or who their father was. Because of this, the letters by women often feel full of uncertainty and fear. For a woman, making a wrong decision could have disastrous consequences.

I don’t really know how to rate this, mostly because I feel like each letter could receive its own rating based on the beautiful language and feelings translated into the writing. I just had a blast reading this, and I especially enjoyed the introduction to each letter where the reader gets a brief insight into the backstory of the writer and their relationship to the person receiving the letter. If you’re a hopeless romantic, this is the collection for you!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what it was, it was average. I guess I was expecting better love letters but the title is not “great love letters”.

And great, they were not. I spent most of the first section constantly being shocked by how rude and abusive the men were. It was actually really, really funny how completely unromantic the letters were so I sent excerpts to my friends as it was too wild to not share.

So it you want to be appalled by men, this is the book for you!

I really need to find examples but basically, insecure men asking why they haven’t had letters on specific days. Kind of the equivalent of someone freaking out because their message has been left on “read”.

The letters from women were much more standard in terms of love letters.

Also, this was my third book in a row with a title starting with “love”. This was not intentional but a weird coincidence.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars
Maybe its pandemic brain but this book was hard to read at times. Not so much the summaries, I actually agree with other reviews that they were more enjoyable than the letters. After 20 of these they kinda blurr together. This is equivalent to someone sliding in your DMs and hitting on you. The simp energy is strong *Looking at you fellas* Yes, some letters were very interesting, well written, just dang adorable. I really liked George Sands and Rosa Luxenburg's. Napoleon hands down had the most memorable one. But maybe having more variety in writing styles would have helped? I know a fair bit of these were likely translated but some were translated better than others. I would recommend this more if you were researching one of the people in the collection vs a book to read.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love is so difficult to write about without sounding corny. Hence, learning from the love letters of 'great men and women' would have been interesting. Alas, apparently to save on copyright costs, all the letters here are from WWI or earlier. As the editor says, this was a more innocent time, so for modern ears the letters sound, well, corny. Interesting historical documents, but not much inspiration for modern love letter writers.

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had been sitting in my boyfriend’s bookshelf for a while so I thought I’d give it a read. I thought I was going to love it, but it just didn’t connect with me. The most interesting part of this book for me was the synopsis about the person before you read their letter. Instead of being a love celebration, reading about so many lost loves in a short book kind of made me disillusioned about love.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have said, I didn’t think the letters were overly romantic. The biographies were more interesting than the letters themselves.

Also, sometimes the biographies were longer than the letters themselves.

I also noticed an inaccuracy in the book. It said that George Sand died at 79 which is incorrect, given she lived from 1804-1876. I just found it hard to find the rest of the information credible after finding this discovery.

[Aleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting how no matter what time of history a person is in people all act the same no matter the time for love. I guess when I read them I expected them to be a little different maybe than what is around today since different time periods have different values,, but the feelings of love are the same across time. As well as the things people are willing to do for love. I finished this like a week ago just forgot to update.