At this month’s meeting of the Minnesota chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America, author Candice Hern again graced us with an interesting and lively talk. I love it when Candice speaks, because she knows her stuff and is passionate about it. She is a Regency aficionado and avid collector. Plus she’s a lot of fun.
Her presentation this time was about valentines during Jane Austen’s life, though Candice also included earlier history, plus examples of later 19th and early 20th century valentines from her own collection.
You may be tempted to think of Valentine’s Day as a Hallmark holiday, invented or at least propagated by card and candy companies. Not so. The holiday has a long and checkered history, dating back to the ancient Romans who celebrated a pagan fertility festival in February. Later, the Catholic church took over the celebration by changing it to a feast for St. Valentine, a Roman priest who ministered to persecuted Christians and ended up beheaded for his efforts. Finally, the day became associated with romantic love.
The earliest documented valentine greeting was sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orléans, when he wrote to his wife, addressing her as, “My very gentle Valentine…” How sweet! In the 16th and 17th century, many poems and romantic ballads were written about choosing one’s valentine. The earliest recorded mention of a hand-made valentine was by diarist Samuel Pepys’s wife in the 17th century who received one with: “her name written upon blue paper in gold letters, done by himself and very pretty.”
“The rose is red, the violet is blue, carnations are sweet, and so are you.”
Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817. The exchanging of handwritten notes of affection was popular during this time, and likely her nieces and nephews gave and received valentines. Did Jane herself ever receive one from a friend, family member, or suitor? We have no written record of her receiving one, sadly. But I certainly hope she did!
Valentine design elements included several motifs common to us today, like cupids, hearts, roses, love birds, etc. Valentines were often sent anonymously, signed with initials only, or from “an admirer.” Trying to figure out who sent it was half the fun!
This is the oldest printed and folded valentine card we know of and dates to 1797. Single sheet valentines were more common in Jane Austen’s time, but cards became common by the 1830s.
Valentines also became more ornamental as the years went on, including printed verses, embossing, cut-out details, prints, paper lace, etc. Some were mailed but most were hand-delivered, because postage had to be paid by the recipient.
“Puzzle Purses,” folded valentines which unfolded section by section to reveal the full sentiment were also popular.
Other popular types were Acrostic valentines (each line beginning with a letter in the lady’s given name, for example), or Rebus valentines, where small pictures replaced certain words, letters, or sounds so that the message arrived in a code for the recipient to decipher, to further add to the fun.
As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed Candice’s timely presentation. Perhaps something here will motivate you to go beyond a store-bought, preprinted card for your Valentine this year, and inspire you to decorate your own card, write your own verse, acrostic, or a romantic code. Either way, I wish you love and romance this Valentine’s Day, dear readers!
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This was FASCINATING, Julie! I don’t think I’d ever heard any of this. Loved the photos of old valentines too!
So thankful I got to experience this presentation with you, Julie. It all was very fascinating. Happy Valentine’s Day.
I thoroughly enjoyed this post, Julie! Thanks for sharing all these wonderful photos and the history behind them.
Such interesting and beautiful Valentines! This post reminds me of delivering valentines when I was a child. After school, we would put our valentines on the porches of our friends, ring the doorbell, and run away before the door was opened. Sometimes we would write our names and sometimes we used the alphabet code of A=1, B=2, etc.so it would take a little longer to figure out the sender. When my children were young, we lived near a friend who had her children make valentine shadow boxes out of gift box tops, using tissue paper, ribbon, construction paper, doilies, and any other craft items to create a valentine message. My children enjoyed doing this for a number of years.
Hi Julie and readers! I enjoyed hearing about and seeing the historical Valentine’s. I have several antique postcard Valentines from, what I believe, the 1930s. I love looking at them and imagining the stories behind them. Thanks for sharing Candice Hern’s interesting talk with us. Happy Valentines Day!