Now, as it is not given unto every man to be a poet, there was clearly a brilliant commercial career before the man who would put on the market a quantity of passable sentimental verse, accompanied by appropriate designs — in a word, valentines as we know them. — W. G. Fitzgerald (1895)
- The Valentine, illustration by Phiz, in Dickens's Pickwich Papers
- "Valentine’s Day: Love and Derision “By the Bushell," essay by Catherine Golden
- Example of a valentine, c. 1850s
- Valentine's Day, an illustration by John Leech, in Punch, 1854
- Valentines and Valentine's Day in Fun (a sitemap)
- "A Chat about Valentines," an essay in English Society (1864)
- [Cupids], an illustration by Adelaide Caxton for "The Valentines for Number 20" in London Society (1865)
- "Vanishing Valentines," an essay by M. G. Fitzgerald (1895)
- Example of a valentine (USA)
Bibliography
Bradford, Emma, ed. Roses are Red: Love and Scorn in Victorian Valentines. London: Albion Press, 1986.
“A Chat about Valentines.” London Society 5 (1864): 178-83. Hathi Trust Digital Library online version of a copy in the Cornell University Library.
Dickens, Charles and W. H. Wills. "Valentine's Day at the Post Office." Household Words: A Weekly Journal. March 30, 1850: 7-12.
Golden, Catherine. Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2009.
Greenaway, Kate. Language of the Flowers. 1884. New York: Avenel Books, n.d.
Holder, Judith. Sweethearts and Valentines. New York: A & W, 1980.
Hyde, J. Wilson. The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance. London: Simpkin, 1889.
Mancoff, Debra N. Love's Messenger: Tokens of Affection in the Victorian Age. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1997.
Created 12 February 2023