Valentines, Political and Social. John Gordon Thomson (1841-1911). Fun (15 February 1873): 71. Courtesy of the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection in the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Click on image to enlarge it. The key beneath the cartoon identifies those to whom Fun sends Valentine’s Day greetings:
(1) To a very Prime Minister (W. E. Gladstone). (2) To a Poet Laureate [Alfred Lord Tennyson] (‘the idyll of the people’). (3) To a First Commissioner of Works (who got the sack); (4) To a Scene Painter. (5) To a Dramatic Author, and some other dramatic Authors. (6) To Ourselves in return for this Valentine number. (7) Specimen of Valentines Tymkyns says he has received from 5,473 3/4 young ladies, all of boundless wealthy and immense personal attractions. (8) To an Heir Apparent [Edward, Prince of Wales] (He is on a treadmill — we don’t know if it is like treadmill — also we don’t care. (9) To the infatuated idiot who does not take Fun regularly. (10) To a Claimant and his supporters. 11. To a Dr. D————n. 12. To a Royal Academician [John Everett Millais.]
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