Victorian Valentine’s Day notes â in photos | existence and style | The protector
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Victorian romantic days celebration notes â in pictures
Victorian Valentine’s Day cards â in pictures
The custom of sending anonymous valentine’s cards originated from the united kingdom and was actually popularised by Victorians once mass-produced, pre-printed cards became readily available. The Laura Seddon Collection held by
Manchester Metropolitan University’s Special Collections
ended up being amassed over 25 years and contains more than 50,000 notes. Some cards mirror the sentimentality we anticipate from supposedly demure and appropriate Victorians, while some show us a bawdier, grittier side for their character â as well as their love everyday lives
Sarah Gilbert
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a cardiovascular system Valentine featuring silver lace and an image of Cupid, from belated 1850s. Victorian Valentines were delivered anonymously and quite often transported no information into receiver â it was anticipated that the Valentine by itself might possibly be information adequate
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Rude and vulgar cards started to show up alongside the frillier variations with all the intoduction of color printing and less expensive generation prices. Gents and ladies as well discovered on their own the butt on the comic passages, like the one about this credit imprinted by JT Wood of London, for the 1840s or 50s
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Some notes had going elements, worked by a tab, like this the one which caricatures a guy with animal features
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Occasionally a scented sachet might possibly be sent without a paper Valentine. This one with silver-lace and blossoms and a woven cotton information at the heart dates through the 1870s
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a printing revealing the “Vicissitudes of like & Matrimony”, with man and spouse rising and on the ladder of real life, big date as yet not known. The illustrations reflect the severe fact of existence for many Victorian ladies
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Valentines were frequently regularly simply take assertive teenage boys down a peg or two â as can be seen contained in this card showing a strutting soldier with a revealing shade
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An embossed Valentine with hand-coloured edges internet dating through the 1860s-70s and created by George Meek
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This card matchmaking from 1880s appears an odd example of a Valentine: the transmitter seems to be disillusioned by the individual
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Internet dating from 1828, nine many years prior to Queen Victoria took to the throne, this Valentine is among some 14 referred to as “The Despondent enthusiasts” created by Addenbrooke, a professional card-manufacturing company
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This inexpensive Valentine imprinted by respected publishers S Marks & Sons of London, reveals the devil utilizing their hand on an “old maid”, and dates from the 1840s or 50s
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“My personal dear, the reality by yourself we utter/In saying you’re as excess fat as butter/Fat females I like therefore don’t decline/To end up being my personal lovely Valentine.” Laura Seddon comments within her catalogue this particular is actually cheeky card is specially uncommon, hence specialized had shared with her it absolutely was a “combination of intaglio etching etched from steel dish”. It dates from about 1840s, although the costume cannot seem to be of this period