The History of Kissing

Kisses are immortal. They travel from lip to lip, from century to century, from age to age. Men and women collect these kisses, offer them to others, and then one by one, they die.
──Guy de Maupassant

In a kiss, you'll understand everything that has been hidden.
──Pablo Neruda

Everyone yearns for love, and kissing is the most direct and primal way to express it. So, what is a kiss, and what does it signify? How did it originate? What sounds does it make, and what about its temperature, scent, and meaning?
Kisses hold various meanings in folk verses across different nations. For instance, there are over twenty different words for kissing in French and over thirty in German. Kierkegaard likened the meeting of lovers' lips to swatting a fly, while to Mark Twain, it was like a cow's hoof in mud.
This book offers a comprehensive historical study, exploring the origin and development of kissing across cultures and time. The author begins with the symbolism and meaning of kisses, examining how they have been used to convey passion, desire, and love, as well as their social and cultural implications, observing how they have shaped human society's norms regarding intimacy and desire. Completed in the 1900s, this book was immediately recognized as a classic upon publication, translated into multiple languages, and cites numerous poems and literary passages, profoundly influencing fields such as linguistics and the history of the senses.