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. How magical some of this is….at random I picked on Robert Schumann >>>>”I had various plans for our correspondence. ..Iwanted to fill my air balloon (for you know I have one) with ideas for letters, and arrange an ascent in a favourable wind with a suitable destination..I wanted to catch butterflies as letter-carriers to you. I wanted to send my letters first to Paris, so that you should open them with great curiosity, and then, more than surprised, would believe me in Paris…” How young so many of these letter writers died. And would they have been so romantic in email? I doubt it!