Jefferson in Love: The Love Letters Between Thomas Jefferson & Maria Cosway

Thomas Jefferson, Maria Hadfield Cosway

Rowman & Littlefield, 1999 - Biography & Autobiography - 138 pages

The newly widowed Thomas Jefferson set sail for Paris. As America's new minister to France he was expected to deal with the politicians and intrigue at the court of King Louis XVI, but he was not prepared for the likes of Maria Cosway. Enchantingly beautiful, sophisticated, and talented, this Italian-born woman captured the handsome Virginian's heart. Maria was his equal in many ways - she was an accomplished portrait and landscape painter, a harpist, singer, and composer. Their romance - lasting more than three years - is recorded in these private billets-doux between the shy American minister and his precocious bonne femme. Presented here in an accessible edition by Jefferson-scholar John P. Kaminski are over forty romantic letters between Thomas and Maria. What they say about the innermost Jefferson as he pours out his heart in the midst of pre-Revolutionary France is remarkably revealing.

What people are saying

Review: Jefferson in Love: The Love Letters Between Thomas Jefferson and Maria Cosway

User Review  - Lindsay - Goodreads

This book makes me both glad to live in the age of email and nostalgic for a time when people wrote letters--at least letters as beautiful and romantic as these. It's a bit voyeuristic to read other peoples' love letters, of course, but so much fun.

Contents

• Introduction: 3
• A Day of Contradiction: 39
• A Painful Night: 41
• Remembering the Charming Days: 42
• Hoping for News: 43
• The Head and the Heart Converse: 44
• Better a Little Than None: 63
• One of My First Pleasures: 65
• No Patience to Wait: 69
• Transported in a Pocket: 72
• Anxiously Awaiting: 74
• Food For My Soul: 75
• Wishing Myself With You: 77
• Melancholy By Nature: 79
• An Enfant Gatée: 82
• Miserable at Losing You: 88
• It Seems a Dream: 90
• Feeling the Loss with Displeasure: 93
• Avoiding Second GoodByes: 94
• The Pain of Leaving Paris: 95
• A Little Corner of Your Heart: 96
• Think of Me Often and Warmly As I Do of You: 98
• Still Angry: 100
• In Affection You Are Greatly My Debtor: 101
• Addressing a StrangerLonging to Return: 104
• A Spontaneous Inclination: 107
• Maria In Waiting: 108
• Love Me Much and Love Me Always: 109
• Be to Me What You Have Been: 111
• A Little Journey for So Much Pleasure: 112
• The Way Will Ever Be Wrong Which Leads Us Farther Apart: 114
• Envious of Those Who Converse With You: 116
• A Little Corner in Your Affection: 117
• You Say So Much in Few Words: 119
• Your Bosom Calm and Soft to Me: 121
• Feeding on Your Friendship: 122
• Longing for a Letter: 124
• A Sad Scrawl Answering Your Charming Letters: 125
• Comfort Me in Going Encourage Me Returning: 127
• Think of Me Sometimes: 129
• We Think Last of Those We Love Most: 130
• The Privation of Your Letters: 131
• Divided By a Wide Sea: 132
• Locations of the JeffersonCosway Letters: 135
• Bibliography: 137

About the author

John P. Kaminski is the director of The Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written and spoken widely on early American history and the Constitution. He is a former president of The Association for Documentary Editing.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Jefferson in Love: The Love Letters Between Thomas Jefferson & Maria Cosway
• Authors: Thomas Jefferson, Maria Hadfield Cosway
• Editor: John P. Kaminski
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999
• ISBN: 0945612567, 9780945612568
• Length: 138 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Historical; Biography & Autobiography / Presidents & Heads of State