Love Letters: Intimate Correspondence Between Famous Lovers

by Andrea Clarke (Editor)

In an age of emails, tweets and emojis, this beautiful selection of original love letters invites us into a privileged realm and reminds us why the written word is so expressive and revealing. The 30 handwritten notes included in this book span centuries, cultures and continents. They contain expressions of every shade of love, from the joy of falling in love to the pain of unrequited passion. They include amorous declarations, pain and grief, the final separation of loved ones and philosophical reflections on the end of a love affair. The reproduction of the letters on the page adds another dimension to our appreciation of the lovers’ relationships. Together they remind us that there is simply nothing quite like receiving a personal handwritten note from the one you love. This new edition contains additional letters between George Eliot and Herbert Spencer, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Jane Morris, Dora Carrington and Lyton Strachey, and Joan Littlewood and Gerry Raffles. 

Genres: Romance, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

There isn't much to say about this 137 page book about famous love letters, except to say that for fellow hopeless romantics, this book is the one for you. As Clarke says herself, love letters are dying out, inevitably replaced by text messages and Snapchats, brief and quickly disappearing. Therefore, this book is the perfect testament to this archaic way of expressing love, with Clarke looking back centuries up until the late 20th century, including along the way kings, queens, poets, writers, and the true icons themselves, the gays.

However, for anyone thinking a whole book full of excerpts of love letters drowning in passion and obsession and hyperbole is a bit *much*, Clarke makes the brilliant choice to include famous examples of unrequited love, of confessions of feelings, of love between people who couldn't actively be together. With this, Clarke shows that whilst love letters might be or have died out, the way we as humans love will forever remain the same, be it through pen and paper or screen and keyboard.

[Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per essere un libro che inizia con "In an age of emails, tweets and texted 'I luv u's', Love Letters invites us into a privileged realm and reminds us why the written word is so special", ha davvero scelto lettere brevi, fin troppo simili alle email.
È un peccato perché ci sarebbero stati tantissimi esempi di lettere d'amore più lunghe e narrative. Oltretutto non sarebbe stato un crimine riportare più di una lettera per la stessa coppia. Questo ci avrebbe permesso di conoscerle meglio, in diverse fasi del loro amore.
Mi è sembrato di leggere un incipit di una bella raccolta, curata e ben studiata, se non che la suddetta non è mai arrivata

[Bilyana Ruzhenova · Rating 2 out of 5]

"And, in order to refresh your memory, I am sending you this little book containing pictures and words which are the two ways by which we can enter the house of memory, since pictures are for the eye, and words are for the ear, and both make past things seem as if they were present."

[Sarah M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful. I read about 90% of this today and spent the past while finishing it because I couldn't bear to put it down.

I've sent my boyfriend so many voice recordings of me reciting the words in these letters, in awe of their depth and beauty.

[Imogen King · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely little book, perfect for the coffee table. I read it in three sittings and enjoyed every bit.

[Siobhan Royle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me miss my man #comeback