Our modern Valentines have a centuries-old history as fascinating and sentimental as Dan Cupid himself. They are the romantic heritage of more than 500 years of experimentation by anxious sweethearts and imaginative publishing firms.
In style, purpose, and price, however, Valentines have changed from generation to generation. Silhouetted against the background of time, these developments reveal how the Valentine custom has steadily increased in popularity.
The original Valentines, a fact almost forgotten today, were strictly tokens of friendship—for over 1000 years: They were sent to commemorate the kindly spirit of St. Valentine, a young Roman priest executed February 14, 270 A.D., for refusing to renounce Christianity.
Medieval sweethearts began exchanging romantic Valentines around 1400. These early creations were designed with quill pert, paste pot, and great expectations.
Cupid’s more talented victims peppered their Valentines with amorous scenes neatly »drawn in black and white. Latex they were made by folding paper and cutting it into very intricate and lacy patterns, which were carefully hand-colored.
By the 17th century, the Valentine custom had spread throughout Europe. The style shifted to elaborate ornamentation. Rich noblemen bedecked their Valentines with expensive jewels and hired ghostwriters to pen impassioned rhymes.
In the lower income brackets, love-plagued swains spent weary hours decorating Valentines with turtle doves, pressed flowers, silk ribbons, and cut-out hearts. England solved verse-writing problems for a sixpence by publishing the first “Valentine Writer” in 1640.
Similar pamphlets with tailor-made verses, and tips on how-to-build-a-better Valentine, were popular until the early 1800’s. Meanwhile, new graphic arts processes had been developed, such as color engraving, lithography and aquatint.
As the 19th century began. English publishers were already selling elegantly printed Valentines. The competition among professional designers was keen, and clever innovations quickly followed.
One unusual Valentine pictured a gaily-colored floral bouquet that opened, like an accordion, into what resembled a “flower cage” or “spider web.” Inside this screen a tiny cupid and verse appeared.
“Mechanical Valentines” were introduced in the I840’s. They featured movable figures, easily animated by a cardboard tongue. Some would picture a tiny cottage or village church, with sides that opened to reveal a happy domestic scene or wedding ceremony.
This was the so-called “Golden Age of Valentines.” In frills and fuss, the Valentines of this period, 1830-60. reached a peak of perfection and beauty that has only been equaled in recent years.
Victorian England exported great quantities of Valentines to America: for here, too, they had been handmade since the Revolutionary War days. Envelopes were added for the first time, and when a low-cost postal service began Valentines became more popular than ever.
American publishers began selling their own Valentines in 1840. By 185 over three million Valentines were sold in the United States, retailing from three cents to thirty dollars apiece.
As the century wore on, humorous Valentines became fashionable. They still are. The 1953 Valentines are evenly divided between the whimsical type and those created in the lace-and-ribbon tradition.
Modern lads and lasses, however, value the verses most of all. For those in love are still seeking some special way to say—
“Let’s be Sweethearts!”
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)