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Literature & Fiction |
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The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time
written by David Lowenherz
Studio : Gramercy
by Gramercy
Release Date : 2005-01-04
Publisher : Gramercy
Released : 2005-01-04
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780517223338
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 17 reviews)
List Price : $8.99
Our Price : $31.97
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Product Description |
If a picture speaks a thousand words, a love letter speaks a thousand more . . .
Even in this age of e-mail, faxes, and instant messaging, nothing has ever replaced the power of a love letter. Much the way light displays every color when passed through a prism, love letters express the spectrum of our emotions, offering a colorful glimpse into the soul of the writer, and of the writer’s beloved. For passionate readers and lovers of words, a letter is irresistible.
Internationally renowned collector David Lowenherz sifted through hundreds and hundreds of historical and contemporary epistles and selected the most ardent, witty, whimsical, sexy, clever, and touching letters for this inspiring collection. Unlike interviews or biographies, these letters give us marvelous insight into the lives of some of history’s most famous lovers and provide intimate glimpses into the hearts of some whose fervent or amusing expressions of devotion will come as a great surprise.
Zelda Fitzgerald to Scott Fitzgerald
Michelangelo Buonarroti to Vittoria Colonna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toConstanze Mozart
Harry Truman to Bess Wallace
Khalil Gibran to Mary Haskell
Benjamin Franklin to Madame Brillon
Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton
George Bush to Barbara Pierce
Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
Elizabeth Barrett Browning to George Barrett
Jack London to Anna Strunsky
Marc Chagall to Bella Chagall
Ernest Hemingway to Mary Welsh
Jack Kerouac to Sebastian Sampas
Alfred Dreyfus to Lucie Dreyfus
Marjorie Fossa to Elvis Presley
Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West
Ludwig van Beethoven to the “Immortal Beloved”
Emma Goldman to Ben Reitman
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Dylan Thomas to Caitlin Thomas
Franz Kafka to Felice Bauer
Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine Bonaparte
Abigail Smith to John Adams
John Ruskin to Euphemia Ruskin
George Sand to Gustave Flaubert
Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren
Anaïs Nin to Henry Miller
Voltaire to Marie Louise Denis
James Thurber to Eva Prout
George Bernard Shaw to Stella Campbell
Sarah Bernhardt to Jean Richepin
Marcel Proust to Daniel Halevy
Frank Lloyd Wright to Maude Miriam Noel
Anne Sexton to Philip Legler
Elizabeth I to Thomas Seymour
Oscar Wilde to Constance Lloyd
Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Maury
Charles Parnell to Katherine O’Shea
Lewis Carroll to Clara Cunnyngham |
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Nice, but not great |
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Some of the letters are interesting, but mostly not that romantic. Definitely not the greatest letters ever, and some are not even letters at all. The formatting made it a little difficult to read. Overall it was okay, but not quite what I was hoping for based on the title. |
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George Bush does NOT belong in a book of love letters! |
This WOULD have been a 5-star book, but I'm sorry, the man who is the front man for the people that have been ruining our country is NOT someone's name I want to THINK about much less read in a book about LOVE.
For the VERY politically tolerant, you may like this book, but I do NOT recommend it for those who really feel a personal upset about Presidents Bush Sr. and/or Bush Jr. Ruins it, ruins it, ruins it, ruins it! Maybe 50 years from now I can stomach to read a love letter written by him -- NOT NOW...!
NOT to give as a gift to anyone who loves our country and has an inkling that the Bushes had a hand in destroying it. |
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A beautiful book of love |
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If you saw sex in the city movie you will love this book as it is filled with love poems like Carrie was reading. |
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What's going on with the price? |
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Apologies up front. I've not yet read this book but my wife wants to have it very much. I gave the book 5 stars to avoid unfairly down-rating the work; (I assume it will be exactly what I expect it to be). I nearly shelled out the $50 (or higher) that this site is asking for this book. Barnes and Noble online is selling this for $8.99. I love Americancivilwar and use it all the time but this price differential really ticks me off. How's this possible? |
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A few very good letters |
The hype offends. Why the 'fifty greatest love letters' of all time? Why not 'fifty great love - letters?' That too would be misleading as there are not fifty great letters here. In fact there may not even be ten. What there is is very small excerpts of a number of good love- letters, including those from some of the great love- letter writers of all- time. The tremendous letter of Elizabeth Browning to her brother George telling the story of Browning's love for her, and how it wholly changed her life is to my mind the supreme letter of the collection, and one of the greatest love - letters of all time. I am not a great fan of Simone de Beauvoir especially since learning of the true character of her relationship with Sartre but her love- letter to Nelson Algren really hits hard. Her expression of a total love, a love in happiness and pain is powerful and winning.
On the other hand Kafka one of the world's greatest letter- writers is not so well represented by the selection given here. The editor claims Hemingway's letters to Mary Welch are among the greatest love - letters ever written. The selection he gives here does not prove this.
Nonetheless there is a great deal to enjoy here. The introductions and capsule biographies before each letter often take up more space than the excerpts themselves, but they are quite interesting .
All in all as with most 'anthologies' of this kind there is valuable writing to be found in this work. |
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