Vicious Valentines show off Victorian wit
IF you’re feeling despondent at your lack of Valentine’s Day cards – take heart in the fact that at least you haven’t received any as cruel as these!
These vicious Valentines are part of the Laura Seddon collection of Victorian greetings cards, in MMU’s Special Collections, and demonstrate a side to the Victorians far removed from the prudish, sentimental side we expect.
Stephanie Boydell, curator of Special Collections at MMU, said: “I think that there is a very particular popular view of the Victorians that casts them as sentimental and prudish, but with a hidden seedy and even sadistic alter ego. These Valentines offer us a glimpse of the true character of the Victorians.
“There are those cards that are overly fussy, frilly and that are a bit too sentimental for contemporary tastes, but then there are also those that show a sense of humour that can only be shared with a very good friend, and some that are plainly suggestive - although the fact they were sent anonymously may have made the senders much braver in their approaches than if they were face to face with the object of their desire!”
Highly elaborate confections
A selection of the Victorian Valentines are currently on display in the foyer of the Sir Kenneth Green library until the end of the month.
In 1835 nearly 60,000 Valentines were sent by post, according to the introduction Laura Seddon wrote to a catalogue of the cards, and the Postmaster general was asked to arrange that “the usual very moderate sum be allowed to the letter carriers for refreshment to enable them to get through the exertions of the next few days.”
Paper Valentines were often handmade and could be ingeniously folded to hide secret messages, and many commercially produced cards included handmade elements. They were often highly elaborate and required careful construction in workshops, which was considered good employment for nimble fingered girls. One card mentioned by Laura Seddon in her catalogue to the collection had more than 3,000 pieces.
She said: “Commercially produced embossed and lace paper provided a suitable background for fine lithographed Valentines, which were often coloured by hand until the development of colour printing provided suitable prints and scraps for decoration.”
Cheap and vulgar cards
With the introduction of colour printing and cheaper production costs, some rude and vulgar cards started to appear alongside the elegant lacy confections.
Other examples of humorous Valentines in the collection include mock documentary cards in the form of marriage certificates, telegrams, summons and banknotes.
The collection which also includes Christmas and general greeting cards was amassed over 25 years and was donated to the University in 1991. The collection includes more than 50,000 cards, of which around 1,000 are Valentines.
The early legend of St Valentine claims he was martyred by the Romans about 270AD after being imprisoned by the Emperor Claudius for performing forbidden marriages. The story has it that he wrote letters from prison to the Emperor’s daughter, which led to him being adopted as the patron saint of lovers.
