| Brief Description |
This valentine card, made for a suitor to give to his lover, dates back to the 19th century. This is an English-made card. According to Victorian manners and mores, it was considered improper for a lady to send a valentine greeting to a man.
It is factory-produced and carries attached coloured images of flowers and birds. Silver-edged lace paper framing and white paper cut-out flowers sit over the frame. The card, which has a ripple-cut edging, opens to a printed verse glued to the paper inside, addressed "To the One I Love".
St Valentine’s Day in the western Christian tradition is on 14 February, and commemorated one of several Christian martyrs named Valentinus; it is not clear which one it originally was. The most well-known was Saint Valentine of Rome, believed to have been imprisoned for helping Christians who were persecuted under Roman rule. While in prison, Valentine healed his gaoler's daughter, and before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell. There is no obvious connection with romantic love. In the Middle Ages a practice of choosing a lover on St Valentine's Day began because it was believed that birds began their courtship and mating on that day. Even though St Valentine's Day origins are lost in the mists of antiquity, the feast day has been observed for centuries.
Written valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper valentines originated in the 1500s in Europe and started being given in place of valentine gifts and greetings. The practice grew and became associated with flowers, which provided the knowing lover with a vocabulary of meaning. Giving a card with a certain type of flower on it was a message in itself.
Early nineteenth century valentines sometimes had a religious theme; it has been suggested that the Sacred Heart often printed on these cards became the Valentine Heart.
Most early Victorian valentines were made by hand from honeycombed tissue, watercolors, paper puffs, inks, paper hearts and paper lace. They were often decorated with silk or satin plus flowers and sometimes feathers. Mass production in factories led them to become wildly popular. Postal services were cheap; the penny post delivered the Valentine right to the door. The valentine card was at its peak in England from around 1890 to 1917.
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