The history of Valentines cards
Why do we celebrate valentines day? A question I’ve always asked myself, is it just glamorised by greedy card companies and rose growers?
NO, valentines greetings go back to 1400 when lovers apparently sang to their valentines. The oldest recorded written valentine is on show at the British Museum.
A hand made, wire and paper original Victorian valentines card.
Interestingly enough there were a few kinds of valentines cards given back in the old days:
Pinprick valentines - made by pricking tiny holes in a paper with a pin or needle. creating the look of lace
Cutout valentines - made by folding the paper several times and then cutting out a lacelike design with small, sharp, pointed scissors
Acrostic valentines - had verses in which the first lines spelled out the loved one’s name
Cont…
Theorem or Poonah valentines - designs that were painted through a stencil cut in oil paper, a style that came from the Orient
Rebus valentines - verses in which tiny pictures take the place of some of the words. (an eye would take the place of the word I)
Puzzle Purse valentines - a folded puzzle to read and refold. Among their many folds were verses that had to be read in a certain order
Fraktur valentines - had ornamental lettering in the style of illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages
The market for valentines goodies started to take off in early 1800’s when cards were mass produced. These were hand painted black and white pictures. The wealthy splashed out on cards made of lace and ribbons. By late 1800’s cards were made entirely by machine.
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