Love; A Curious History

Edward Brooke-Hitching

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781398522725
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas and The Madman’s Library (Sunday Times Literature Book of the Year) comes a magnificent new illustrated work. From prehistoric carvings and ancient Egyptian statues, to medieval spell books and Victorian code-writing, this unique collection gathers a wealth of curious objects and surprising stories to trace the story of love through the ages. 

Discover the royal marriage that crossed the boundary of death in 14th-century Portugal, the judicial duels between husbands and wives in Early Modern Europe, the love spells found in medieval manuscripts, and the romantic codes hidden in some of art’s greatest masterpieces. Meet the feared ancient Greek army regiment comprised entirely of male couples; the French pirate queen avenging her murdered husband; the first woman to sail around the world; and the quack sexologist who conned 18th-century London with his musical mechanical bed. Here are ancient gods, mythical monsters, the Elizabethan portraits of smiling men on fire and the erotic paintings hidden beneath the ash of Pompeii, as well as Nigerian wedding chains, Welsh love spoons, cryptic postcards and the centuries-old cartographic tradition of mapping the heart. 

A curiosity cabinet of romantic treasure, Love: A Curious History in 50 Objects draws on a wide range of sources to form a collection perfect for fans of beautiful illustrated works and curious history, while also forming the ideal romantic gift. 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• 1. The Ain Sakhri Lovers (c.9000 BC)
• 2. The Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük (c.6000 BC), and Other Ancient Gods of Love and Lust
• 3. ‘The Marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid’ – Love in Ancient Mesopotamia
• 4. Yuny and His Wife Renenutet (c.1294-1279 BC) – Love in Ancient Egypt
• 5. The Fuxi and Nüwa Scroll (eighth century) – Love Stories of Ancient China
• 6. Dead Man’s Fingers – Ceyx and Alcyone
• 7. The Lion of Chaeronea (c.338 BC) – The Story of the Sacred Band of Thebes
• 8. Love in Ancient Rome – From Pompeii’s Erotica, to Hadrian and Antinous (c.123)
• 9. Graeco-Roman Amulets, Pilgrim Badges, and the Winged Phallus
• 10. The ‘Kama Sutra’
• 11. Lady Xoc’s Carved Tongue-Piercing Lintel (c.726) – Love in Mesoamerica
• 12. Norse Brooch (800-900) – A Viking Guide to Dating
• 13. ‘Fair Rosamund’ – Henry II and the Secret in the Labyrinth (c.1166)
• 14. ‘The Rosa Celestial’ – Dante and Beatrice
• 15. Jeanne de Clisson’s ‘My Revenge’ (1343-59)
• 16. Peter I of Portugal and Inês de Castro (1361)
• 17. Taj Mahal, the Samarkand Mosque, and Other Romantic Monuments (fifteenth century)
• 18. The Sarcophagus Lid of Thanchvil Tarnai and Larth Tetnies; and Other Eternal Embraces
• 19. Jan van Eyck’s ‘Arnolfini Portrait’ (1434)
• 20. Hans Talhoffer’s ‘Fight Book’ (1459) – The History of the Husband-and-Wife Duel
• 21. ‘The Unicorn Tapestries’ (1495-1505)
• 22. The Heart Through the Ages
• 23. The Iron Spider or, Adultery: A Cheat Sheet
• 24. The Tower of Jealousy – Love in Medieval Manuscripts
• 25. Magical Papyrus 121; and the Love Spell
• 26. Unlocking the Chastity Belt
• 27. Legend of the Sex Nuts, and Other Stories of Love at Sea
• 28. The Men Consumed by Flames (1600-10)
• 29. Mapping the Heart (1654)
• 30. Lovers’ Eyes, and Other Love Tokens
• 31. Elizabeth Blackwell’s ‘A Curious Herbal’ (1737-9)
• 32. Ladies of the Night – ‘Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies’ (1757-95)
• 33. ‘Baretia Bonafidia’ – the Extraordinary Love Story of Jeanne Baret (1766)
• 34. Yoruba Carved Wedding Chain
• 35. James Graham and the Celestial Bed (1780), with Other Love Quacks
• 36. Giacomo Casanova’s ‘History of My Life’ (1794)
• 37. ‘Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’ (1814) and the Erotic Art of Japanese ‘shunga’
• 38. Percy Shelley’s Wandering Heart, and Other Post-Mortem Keepsakes
• 39. The King, the Snuff Box and the Secret Sex Society (1822)
• 40. Sarah Goodridge’s ‘Beauty Revealed’ (1828)
• 41. Note from the Bank of Love (1847) A Brief History of Valentine’s Day
• 42. The Unexpected Origins of the Love Song
• 43. The Courting Manuscript of Henry Hilditch Bulkeley-Johnson (c.1870)
• 44. Victorian Cryptic Postcards and the Flower Code
• 45. Matches Made in Heaven – The Hot Air Balloon Wedding Craze
• 46. Lost in Gold – Gustav Klimt and ‘The Kiss’ (1907-8)
• 47. The Kiss Through the Ages
• 48. Frida Kahlo’s ‘Diego in My Thoughts’ (1943) and the Art of Obsession
• 49. The Surprising History of the Dating App
• 50. ‘Voyager’ Golden Record – The Love Story that Left the Solar System
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Picture Credits
• Copyright