Passionate Love Letters: An Anthology of Desire, with Facsimiles of Rela Letters & Quotations from Lovers' Correspondence Thoughout the Ages

This book is lovely. My sister had bought me a copy of this a long time ago and I still treasure it today. Reading the different quotes from the various letters can make you laugh, smile, sigh and even cry. I love it, and it's a nice book to have around for the closeted sentimentalist-like myself.

The author, Michelle Lovric, has assembled in her third book on letters some extremely lovely correspondence. With chapters titled Tormented, Longing, Playful, and many more, she has provided the world with letters from many different authors and many different eras. From Jack London...."you elude me. I cannot place you, cannot grasp you." From Emily Dickinson...."I think of love, and you, and my heart grows full and warm." There are far to many letters to quote from, and each is unique and revealing in its own way. A real treat for anyone who still writes with pen and paper and enjoys doing it.

I just love books like this - it is beautifully illustrated, has a broad range of quotes in it and is simple to pick up and leaf through - or put down quickly if something comes up. I suppose this could count as a coffee table book - its largish and squarish and bound in hardcover but its not a weighty tome so it can be easily shoved into a good-sized handbag and dragged onto a bus or wherever you want a quick browse.This book is made up predominantly of short quotes from love-letters - Lovric has split these into different categories according to the tenor of the quote- these categories include such titles as; Penitent, Reproachful, Rapturous, Breathless, and Tormented. You can certainly leaf through it according to your mood - laugh, cry or sigh. Each category has about 10 quotes in it and is given a double facing-page, lavishly illustrated in a sort of Victorian scrap book style.A really wonderful bonus feature in this book is that in each category there is a replica of an entire original letter -you get to pull it out of its envelope - or unfold it - just as the original receiver would have. In case you can't read the writing which very often I couldn't, the letter is translated in full at the end of the book. Quotes come from a broad range of people, poets like Byron and Rupert Brooke, Kings like William IV, heros like Lord Nelson and writers like Jack London. There is a huge range of people used - some quite unknown - well unknown to me. I had never heard of Felice Schrangenheim before, but the Marriage contract drawn up by her for Lily West in the category 'Inextinguishable', had me in tears.

Wow! This book is such a delight to the senses.Lovric's beautifully illustrated and arranged book is a compilation of excerpts from love letters written throughout this and centuries past. Often heated, passionate, and always articulate, these letters conjure up the idea of timeless love and ageless passion.Next to many of the quotes is biographical information about the author and recipient. The authors' often turbulent relationships parallel those today. Frankly, I was quite surprised by how little has changed. This book took me back to a time past when letter writing was considered an art. While e-mail is a great tool nowadays, our virtual letters seem to lack the sophistication and thoughtfulness that is prevalant in earlier forms of letter writing. It was so nice to see an author take the time to go back and explore this fine art.Another lovely feature of the book is its inclusion of actual printed letters inserted in paper envelopes throughout the book. (For those who have read the "Griffin and Sabine" series of books -- this is very similar in look/feel.) I felt a thrill opening each envelope and peering at the letter inside. Since each author's handwriting leaves a bit to be desired, Lovric ads a printed "translation" of each letter to the end of the book.I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the art of letters and has ever been (or plans to be) in love. You won't be dissapointed.

"Passionate Love Letters" is an anthology of just that, but describing the book as that does not do it justice. It is only 48 pages long, but each page is a jumble of colorful illustrations, art and quotations set in a variety of type styles. Each page demands careful reading. In addition, ten love letters are reprinted in their original format, some tucked into envelopes pasted onto the page, and one from Admiral Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton, double-folded and sealed with wax. Inclusion of these letters are more atmospheric than relvatory, and the reader must turn to the index to decipher George Bernard Shaw's pleas to the actress Stella Campbell ("Now you have upset everything again with your thrushes and nonsense, and I am whistled back as infatuated as ever"), or King Henry VIII's desire toward his future second wife, Anne Boleyn, to "[wish] myself (specially an evening) in my sweetheart's arms, whose pretty ducks [breasts] I trust shortly to kiss." Whether marveling over Napoleon's declaration to his Josephine that "All my thoughts are concentrated in your boudoir, in your bed, on your heart," or sighing at actress Sarah Bernhardt's declaration to her lover that "Your words are my food, your breath my wine,"to those who delight in reading other people's mail, these letters can cause red-faced delight. -- Bill Peschel