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Valentine, Be Mine
Antique Valentines All Bisque Antique
Valentines All Bisque Antique Valentines All Bisque
Valentine, Be Mine©
by Lynn Murray
 What
do dolls and valentines have in common? Both dolls and valentines are given as
expressions of affection or love. Like dolls, valentines began as home made
crafts mainly made in Europe and in England. Their most rapid growth in
popularity and commercial production came at the same time as with dolls, during
the industrial revolution of the 19th century. But I am centuries
ahead of myself already...
Who was Saint Valentine and why do we have a day commemorating love on his
name day? According to legend, Valentine was a priest in Rome during the third
century A.D. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made braver, more
daring soldiers, he outlawed marriage for the young men of Rome. Valentine
defied the decree as unjust and continued to perform Christian marriage
ceremonies in secret. When Claudius became aware of Valentine’s defiance he
ordered him imprisoned. While in prison Valentine was befriended by his jailer’s
daughter, with whom he fell in love. During his imprisonment, he continued to
defy Claudius by assisting Christians to escape the grim Roman prison. For this
he was sentenced to death. Before he died, he wrote a letter to his love,
signing it "Remember me, your Valentine." In the 1700 years since his death,
Valentine’s appeal as a heroic and romantic figure remain undiminished. His
remains may be viewed every St. Valentine’s Day at Whitefriar Street Church in
Dublin, Ireland.
  
Wilt thou be mine? dear love, reply
Sweetly consent, or else deny;
Whisper softly, none shall know,
Wilt thou be mine, love? aye or no?
-from Duke Charles of Orléans, Tower of
London, England, 1415 A.D.
 Today,
the oldest known valentine in existence is in the British Library in London. It
is a
poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke d’Orleans to his wife after his capture
and imprisonment in the Tower of London. Celebrations of St.Valentine’s Day
became increasingly consummate in the 1600s. By the mid-1700s friends and lovers
in all social classes had begun exchanging hand-written notes or tokens
declaring their love. The Victorians took the practise of valentine exchange to
a new level. Though they followed strict codes of behavior and etiquette, they
were the consummate romantics. England had penny postal service throughout the
country by 1840, allowing people to expand the circle of friends to whom they
sent valentines. The earliest commercially produced valentines were generally in
the form of decorated stationery with an embossed edge and a decorative
medallion. The paper could be folded and sealed with wax for mailing.
 At
a time when expressing one’s emotions directly was not thought to be suitable,
ready
made cards came into vogue. Printing technology was improving and postage rates
were dropping, encouraging people to express their affections with a valentine.
Paper lace was developed and English valentines became increasingly complex and
elaborate. Valentine cards were often left blank inside for the sender to
inscribe with an appropriate verse taken from one of many "Valentine Writer"
pamphlets that could be purchased for a penny. Valentine cards were embellished
with colored paper, gold paint, embossing, paper lace, curls of hair, dried
flowers, moss and seaweed, ribbons and silk, lithographs and later, scrap
printed with the new chromolithography. Every successive development in the
technology of paper production was soon employed in valentine production:
embossing, die-cutting, gilding, chromolithography.
In
England Dobbs & Co., and later Dobbs, Kidd & Co. Produced valentines embellished
with hand-painted medallions with cupids and flowers on a satin backing. The
company often used American theme imagery as they exported to America. Dobbs
valentines are usually marked in tiny letters right below the painted center
medallion. The company’s heaviest production was during the 1850s.
 Joseph
Mansell was a fancy stationer, engraver and printer whose paper lace was so fine
that it could be mistaken for the real thing. He began producing valentines in
the 1830s. His valentines were sometimes so elaborate and delicate that they had
to be boxed. Mansell was the first to use gilding on paper lace. He would later
supply several American valentine companies with paper lace and medallions.
 Esther
Howland was the daughter of a successful stationer in Massachusetts. After she
received an elaborate English valentine in 1840, she knew she could use her own
talents to produce equally beautiful cards. She convinced her father to import
the supplies from England and her valentine business became a resounding
success. Howland’s valentines were always the best quality. It was Esther
Howland who first employed the heavily embossed and brightly colored German
paper scraps to further decorate the fine quality paper lace she continued to
import from English stationers such as Mansell. In the 1880s Howland sold her
company to a former employee, George Whitney, in order that she could care for
her widowed father. Whitney was the first to make paper lace in America. Though
he had the opportunity to venture into the comic valentine fashion when her
bought the Fisher company, he felt comic valentines were degrading. He sold all
the Fisher comic plates to McLoughlin Brothers of New York. Whitney’s business
continued until the paper shortages of World War II.
 
A
feast of flowers here behold
A thing of joy to see
But ah! To me ‘tis sweeter far
To feast mine eyes on thee!
 
I’ve often wished to have a
friend
With whom my choicest hours to spend,
To whom I safely may impart
Each wish and weakness of my heart.
 Both
dolls and valentines reflect the tastes and fancies of the era in which they
were produced. In the 1700s we had the hand-cut and painted valentines and
hand-carved wooden dolls. Their styles and sentiments mirrored the social strata
of regency England. They were elegant in their simplicity. The Victorian taste
for lavish decoration and opulence was seen in every facet of daily life. The
Industrial Revolution encouraged a new desire for acquisition and luxury. Dolls
and toys became ever more elaborate in detail and technical production. As the
century came to a close, interest in technical and
mechanical products was high. Valentines had moving parts, windows and
honeycombs to make them stand alone. Dolls had wind-up and pull-string
mechanisms allowing them to walk and talk, throw kisses and move their eyes from
side to side.
The romantic sentiment of Victorian valentines was replaced by
comic and character art in the same way that dolls became more whimsical. Though
the physiognomy might change, the doll and the valentine today remain two gifts
given to express affection and love.
Bibliography:
Etter, Roberta. Tokens of love. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.
Leopold, Allison Kyle. Victorian keepsake. New York: Doubleday, 1991.
Manchester Polytechnic. Library. A gallery of greetings : a guide to the
Seddon Collection of greetings cards in Manchester Polytechnic Library.
Compiled by Laura Seddon. Manchester : Manchester Polytechnic Library, 1992.
Schmidt, Leigh Eric. The fashioning of a modern holiday: St Valentine's Day,
1840-1870, Winterthur Portfolio 28 (Winter 1993): 209-45.
Staff, Frank. The valentine & its origins. New York: Praeger, 1969.
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