The correspondence between Kamma Rahbek (1775-1829) and the writer and scholar Christian Molbech (1783-1857) is one of the most interesting human documents from the time of the Golden Age. Almost day by day we are witnessing an intense and conflict-ridden friendship that only lasted from the spring of 1813 to the end of 1814. The 302 letters throw light on the thoughts of two widely different personalities on life and on the individual at a critical time when Denmark was facing national bankruptcy and had lost Norway after the Napoleonic wars. Moreover, the correspondence is an important source of the history of a civilisation. The wise and witty letters from Kamma Rahbek are full of small vivid accounts of some of the days at Bakkehuset, a farmhouse that Kamma made into a rendezvous of the leading poets and public figures of that time. Oehlenschläger, Grundtvig and J P Mynster are just a few of the regular visitors. We are told of her literary interests, musical talents and her interest in flowers which mad