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The Perfect Bedtime Companion

Are you looking for a good read to snuggle down with? Something to enchant you for a few minutes in bed before you go to sleep? Then what could be more perfect than A Little History Of Love, a series of more than 50 essays on everything from Abelard and Heloise to wooing techniques in ancient Rome?

Guys, does your partner have a Kindle? Then why not buy her A Little History Of Love? What else could you give her that costs so little yet creates so much pleasure? (And, you never know, after reading about The Perfumed Garden or Lady Chatterley’s Lover she may be in the mood to give you some pleasure in return.)

What will you find inside A Little History Of Love? When your eyes are really heavy there’s a short essay on Brief Encounter. And when your eyes are amorous, and your lover’s too, then maybe you’ll turn to the entries on the Kama Sutra, Tantra or Titillation.

Would you like to read the world’s earliest surviving love letter? Here it is:

May Shamash and Marduk grant thee for my sake to live forever. I write this in order to inquire after thy health. Let me know how it goes with thee. I am now settled in Babylon, but I am in great anxiety because I have not seen thee. Send news when thou wilt come, that I may rejoice at it. Come in the month of Arakhsamna [November-December]. Mayst thou, for my sake, live forever.

Gimil-Marduk, Letter to Bibeya (c.2000 bc), as quoted in A Little History Of Love.

Think you know all about kissing? Did you know this?

In 1837 Thomas Saverland brought an action against a Miss Caroline Newton for biting off a piece of his nose. He had tried to kiss her ‘by way of a joke’ and she had defended her honour. The judge agreed that she was right to do so. ‘When a man kisses a woman against her will,’ he ruled, ‘she is fully entitled to bite off his nose, if she so pleases.’

From A Little History Of Love.

Would you like to know what really went on in the harem? Here, from an eyewitness account, is part of it:

All live together in their enclosure surrounded by high walls… Each wife has apartments for herself and her slaves… Jewels and clothes are provided by the husband according to the extent of his affection… Each night he visits a particular wife, or Mahal, and receives a very warm welcome… The husband sits like a golden cock among his hens until midnight or until passion or drink sends him to bed. Then if one of the pretty slave girls takes his fancy, he calls her and enjoys her, his wife not daring to show any signs of displeasure…

Francis Pelsaert, Remonstrantie (1626) as quoted in A Little History Of Love.

And maybe you’d like to rediscover some of the ancient secrets of the bedroom:

Those who know the Tao of Loving and harmonize the Yin and Yang are able to blend the five joys into a heavenly pleasure; those who do not know the Tao of Loving will die early, without even having truly enjoyed the pleasure of loving…

Anon, Su Nü Ching (c. 1^st century ad) as quoted in A Little History Of Love.

A Little History Of Love will entertain and delight you with its anecdotes and insights. Just click on ‘Buy Now’ to begin enjoying it at bedtime tonight.

We have published the pictures from the ePub version here so that kindle users can also enjoy them.