Perhaps no memento so perfectly captures the essence of an entire era as the valentine does for the Victorians. Here, hidden within the undulating paper curves of these charmingly conceived, lovingly crafted tokens of affection - the more elaborate, the better - lie fascinating clues to the gilded age in which the valentine was transformed from mere ephemera into art.
Behind the gilt-edged paper-lace doilies, adorned with colorful chromolithographs of hearts pierced with arrows, fluffy kittens in a basket, nosegays of pansies, or the cheerful countenance of a beribboned golden-winged cherub, stood not just the secrets of Victorian hearts but of Victorian society as well.
While the origin of Valentine's Day is lost in lore (history has produced at least eight St. Valentines), the most popular evolution of the holiday is traced to a young Christian martyr known as Valentinus, who was imprisoned in Rome in the third century for refusing to worship pagan gods.
Before he was beheaded on February 14, 269, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter, who had befriended him while in prison. According to the legend, the night before his execution he sent the girl a farewell note signed "From your Valentine," a phrase that through the centuries has symbolized friendship and affection.
Despite St. Valentine's missive of remembrance, most historians agree that many of the rituals associated with Valentine's Day stem not from the martyr's feast day but from the pagan festival of Lupercalia, which was held on February 14.
The ancient Romans believed that on this day birds selected their mates. During the Roman festival, young maidens wrote love messages and slipped them into a large urn. Young males then drew a name from the urn ad, in the following year, courted the maiden whose message they drew.
Add to the St. Valentine's Day lore a dash of Roman mythology with Venus, goddess of beauty, and her son Cupid, armed with arrows dipped in love potion, and it's no wonder the origins of this holiday are uncertain.
It became traditional for lovers to express their sentiments of February 14 with letters or gifts. The earliest documented love message, or valentine as we know it today, was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London after being captured at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. That valentine is preserved in the British Museum.
Samuel Pepys' Diary in 1667 contains a drawing, with the name 'valentine' written in fancy gold letters on blue paper. In another instance, the word is written with a motto, which some historians claim to be the first example of a "modern valentine."
By the end of the eighteenth century, homemade valentines like the one found in Pepys' Diary were an English custom. The beauty and elaborateness of the design, of course, depended on the sender's artistic talents. The literary sentiments, however, were taken care of by a valentine-verse industry that blossomed in England beginning in 1797. Some of these books included such titles as The
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