FIRST AND FOREMOST I WISH TO THANK STANFORD UNIVERSITY, which has provided an intellectual home for my husband and me for more than fifty years. Without the resources of Green Library and the new Bowes Art and Architecture Library, my work on this book would have been nearly impossible.
At Stanford I am indebted to English professor John Bender for pointing me in the direction of European emblem books, to French professor Marisa Galvez for her work on medieval songbooks, to English professor emerita Barbara Gelpi for advice on Catholic religious devotions, to history professor Fiona Griffiths for medieval bibliographical suggestions, to Professor Robert Harrison for insights into medieval Italian literature, to professor emeritus Van Harvey of religious studies for strengthening my knowledge of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and to G. Salim Mohammed, director of the David Rumsey Map Center, for helping me research cordiform maps. I am also grateful to Edith Gelles, senior scholar at the Michelle Clayman Institute for Gender Research, for comments on the American material. Gelles, along with Clayman senior scholar Karen Offen, Professor Barbara Gelpi, and writer and translator Stina Katchadourian offered a combined critique of Chapter 8.
Graduate student Natalie Pellolio from the Stanford Art Department was invaluable in choosing and procuring illustrations.
Author Kim Chernin made important suggestions for Chapter 18, and her partner, author Renate Stendhal, offered ongoing advice and encouragement.
Theresa Donovan Brown, my close friend and coauthor of The Social Sex, nurtured The Amorous Heart from its earliest stage of development.
My literary agent and longtime friend, Sandra Dijkstra, made sure to find the right publisher for The Amorous Heart, and Dan Gerstle, my editor at Basic Books, was a major influence in shaping the book’s content.
My psychiatrist husband, Irvin Yalom, was the first and last reader of the text and an ever-present support. Our photographer son, Reid Yalom, helped produce the photos. With such family members, colleagues, and friends, writing a book about the heart as a symbol of love came naturally.