A collection of letters that offer an unparalleled look at the private Jefferson

In 1784, the recently widowed Thomas Jefferson set sail for Paris. As the United States’ minister to France, he was expected to deal with the politicians in the court of King Louis XVI, but he was not prepared for the likes of Maria Cosway. Enchantingly beautiful, sophisticated, and witty, this Italian-born woman of the world captured the Virginian’s heart. Their romance, lasting more than three years, is recorded in these private notes between the American statesman and his precocious inamorata.

In one famous letter, Jefferson imagined a debate between his head and his heart over his intellect and his desires. In another, after reading Jefferson’s description of Virginia, Cosway sighed: “Why am I not a man that I could set out immediately and satisfy my curiosity and indulge my sight with wonders!” Presented here in an accessible and attractive new edition are over forty letters that reveal the innermost Jefferson, as well as the restrictive eighteenth-century world in which men and women had to live —and love.