{"id":221,"date":"2022-01-05T13:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=13650"},"modified":"2022-01-05T14:01:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T13:01:12","slug":"the-history-of-valentines-day-cards-and-the-best-to-buy-this-year","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/the-history-of-valentines-day-cards-and-the-best-to-buy-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of Valentine\u2019s Day cards and the best to buy this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Katy Layton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 05 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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There are many theories about why and when Valentine\u2019s cards were originally sent, but we do know that they were popular in their simplest, handmade form from the beginning of the 1800s \u2013 the first record of a posted Valentine\u2019s card was in 1806.<\/p>\n

Far too bold an item to be sent from a woman to a man (though, as my collection attests, women frequently sent them to female friends), it was men who first seized upon them.<\/p>\n

As early as 1797, verses and sentiments could be copied and penned with love from The Young Man\u2019s Valentine Writer<\/i> \u2013 a sort of crib sheet for love-stricken romantics. Most of these lines would be written into card cut by knife by the young man himself.<\/p>\n

This would then be presented on gilt-edged or decorative sheets of fine paper, and often discreetly folded. Not until the 1820s did a similar tome of \u2018Approved Valentines for the use of the Female Sex\u2019 appear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\""A\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A display of antique Valentine\u2019s Day cards taken from Beryl Peters\u2019 private collection look striking alongside notebooks in shades of red, pink and cream.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

When were Valentine\u2019s Day cards popular?<\/h2>\n

By the 1830s, around 60,000 Valentine\u2019s cards were being sent each year. And in 1835, Francis Freeling, the Secretary of the Post Office, wrote to the Postmaster General asking for extra expenses for the letter carriers to help them \u2018get through the extraordinary exertions\u2019 of the period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1840, the development of the pre-paid penny postage system opened up the market even further (prior to that, the card\u2019s recipient had been made to pay for the service).<\/p>\n

With improving production methods \u2013 and, no doubt, an inkling of the profits to be made from tender hearts set a-flutter \u2013 manufacturers really went to town. At first, the cards were finished by hand, with heavy fringes, spun glass, imitation gems, mother of pearl and even shells being stuck on.<\/p>\n

Based on the real thing and every bit as intricate, paper lace, said to have been created by one Joseph Addenbrooke in 1834 while he was working for London papermaker Dobbs & Co, was a big hit of the time.<\/p>\n

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