Guest Comments by Jon Butler

The writer is an editorial director at Boxtree Publishing in London, England.

Remember the wonderfully romantic book of letters by the likes of Beethoven, Byron and Napoleon that featured in the Sex and the City film? Well, it never actually existed… until now.

Starting this month, Love Letters of Great Men appears in hardback from Macmillan. Hot on the heels of the Sex and the City movie, this book brings together some of the most romantic letters in history, coming from the private papers of Nelson, Mark Twain, Mozart, Oscar Wilde and many more.

For some of these great men, love is a “delicious poison” (William Congreve). For others, it’s “a nice, soft wife on a sofa with good fire, books and 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 appears, from the exquisite eloquence of Wilde to the simple devotion of Robert Browning.

Taken together, these love letters show that perhaps men haven’t changed so much in the past 2,000 years. Passion, jealousy, hope and longing blend with the simple pleasures of sending letters to, and receiving others from, the person most loved.


Napoleon had a tender touch?

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