Anatomy of Love

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

Dryness, paleness, waking, sighing, despair, frenzy, death: love's repercussions can be dire indeed. Perhaps that is why Robert Burton devoted the largest part of his pioneering 17th-century psychological work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, to this supreme passion. Edited to offer the modern reader easier access to this classic text, this abridged version preserves all the fantastic variety of the original, as Burton knits together stories and quotations drawn from millennia of European literature in order to understand love's causes, consequences, and cures.

We encounter gods and goddesses, ancient kings and queens, lascivious monks and pure-hearted shepherds, marriages happy and unhappy, allurements natural and unnatural, and, most importantly, many cures for love-melancholy, from the obvious to the arcane. Intricate yet commonsensical, learned yet earthy, and twinkling throughout with ironic warmth, Burton's masterpiece speaks to the deepest concerns of the human heart as well today as it did four centuries ago.

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781805333333
Published: January 2026

Number of pages: 368
Width: 129 mm
Height: 198 mm
Depth: not specified

Publisher: Pushkin Press