Valentine's Day Symbols Part 3 - Valentine Cards
By: Tippy & Alfred
Valentine Cards
The custom of exchanging love notes goes back to the Roman
Lupercalia festival in which young men put small pieces of
paper with the names of girls into a container and blindly
drew a name to see which girl would be his "sweetheart" for
the next year. But the British were the ones who popularized
sending your feelings to someone via a printed card.
The first Valentine card was created by Charles, Duke of
Orleans, who was imprisoned in the tower of London for
several years following the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He
sent Valentine poems to his wife in France from his jail
cell. Commercial Valentines didn't appear until the 1800's
(In England) although handmade cards had been around for
years.
In the 19th century "Penny Dreadfuls" also came on the
scene. "Penny Dreadfuls were cards that were insulting and
cruel rather than loving and flattering. They were mostly
sent anonymously too, for obvious reasons. Postage was
expensive, and during the English Victorian times the custom
was that the recipient paid for the mail they got (not the
sender as we do it today). So you can imagine what a double
insult it was to pay for a Valentine only to open it up and
discover it was critical, or a "Vinegar Valentine."
Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway were famous children's book
illustrators of their time. At the age of 22, Kate sold her
first Valentine design for $15. Within weeks, over 25,000
copies were sold. She kept designing Valentines for a few
more years, but was never paid for them. Today, Kate
Greenaway's and Walter Crane's Valentine's are collector's
items.
But, Valentines did not always come as paper and lace.
Sailors and soldiers returned from their voyages bringing
silk scarves (or other items) that had designs of hearts,
flowers and other romantic images or words, as gifts to
their wives or girlfriends. And in return many of the wives
or girlfriends of those sailors (before they took off to
sea) made them stronger bundles decorated with loving images
and thoughts (and filled with items) to take with them on
their voyages to remind them of their loves back home.
In America, hand-made Valentines appeared around 1740 and
were sealed with red wax and left secretly on a lover's
doorstep (or sent in the mail). Commercial cards for the
most part took over around 1880's. But people still (and
will always) make homemade ones too. Some included trinkets,
some locks of hair and in some cases there were checks that
were drawn against "The Bank of Love" and valentines printed
to look like money. One Valentine card was so realistic to a
5 pound note it was quickly recalled!
When Valentine Cards got to America, they also got more
creative. The first known to come to the US is a note
written by John Winthrop in 1629 to his wife before leaving
England for the New World. It ended with "My sweet wife,
Thou must be my valentine for none has challenged me." He
later became governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Valentines were not only done in delicate pen and ink, but
also watercolor and the handwriting also became a thing of
beauty for the card as well, as good penmanship was
considered a form of art, as well as an indication of the
quality of a person.
Scrimshaw & Cameos
As for those romantic sailors out at sea longing for their
true loves....
Many sailors would wile away the long hours at sea by
carving designs on tusk, bones, ivory or wood. Many were
designed as a token of love for a woman back home. This is
known as scrimshaw today. Long flat decorated scrimshaw were
often meant as corset stiffeners, also known as busks and
stays. Some carved messages for their lady loves into them.
Artistically talented sailors carved images of their fair
ladies on conch shells (known as cameos) because photos were
not invented yet. Or....in some cases they carved images of
themselves on conch shells and had them made into pins for
their true loves to wear and remember them by. In other
cases, the men would carve pictures of Gods on the cameos or
scrimshaw and give them to their loved one as an amulet of
love and protection.
Here is a poem written from a sailor to his sweetheart when
he sent her carved scrimshaw whalebone busks.
Accept, dear girl, this busk from me
Carved by my humble hand.
I took it from a sperm whale's jaw
One thousand miles from land.
In many a gale had been the whale
In which this bone did rest.
His time is past, but his bone at last
Must now support thy breast.
I find this the most phenomenally personal gift from a man
to a woman in that day. Today, if a man gave a woman say a
Victoria's Secret bra or lingerie, it would not be
considered as intimate as in the Victorian times when a man
literally carved the support bones for his woman's corsets!
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All About The Holidays
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