Though St. Valentine’s Day has been celebrated for a very
long time, the
Valentine’s Day cards we send today, and their romantic precursors with
pictures, real lace and ribbons, didn’t really come into fashion until the mid
19th century with the Victorian era.
Valentine cards were cherished
because of the sentimentality attached to them. Designing cards became a
highly competitive market, with a vast array of motifs and verses. Suddenly,
cards were being produced in tens of thousands, from whimsy and slightly
vulgar, to truly sentimental, their designs included lace paper, embossed
envelopes, glass or metal mirrors, ribbons, dried ferns and fake advertisements,
bank notes and marriage licenses.
Valentine’s Day cards became
a flourishing trade in central London. Commercially printed cards quickly
superseded homemade offerings of earlier times. They reached the height of
their popularity during the 1870s and 80s. Yet even those commercially produced
featured birds with real feathers, posies of dried flowers and spun glass
hearts, all trimmed with ribbons and lace.
Some valentines were so thick with embellishments, they came in presentation boxes. Some unfolded like fans, while mechanical valentines had levers or disks which made figures dance, hands move and birds flutter their wings.
Sometimes
a scented sachet would be sent rather than a paper Valentine. The one below with
silver lace and flowers and a woven silk message in the center dates from the
1870s.
The words in these
cards were as effusive as the decorations. Unabashedly sentimental, they pleaded
for affection and pledged undying devotion. Even men kept these tokens of
affection hidden in their bureau drawers.
The world has changed
and so have valentines but sometimes I like to look at the ones from earlier
eras and enjoy the sweet sentimentality expressed. Today our affection is often
more subtly expressed but it’s still nice to have a day when such tokens of
love can be exchanged.
Happy
Valentine’s Day!
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