c. 1840s Large Paper Lace Valentine with Watercolor Flower (Blank Interior) figure with trident One finds hand-colored printed rewards

One finds hand-colored printed rewards of merits more frequently

which I find a pretty ingenious as well as evocative thing

crisply painted that yellow house is

the number 10 on the back of it

the whole thing hovers in a great sort of in between

c. 1840s Large Paper Lace Valentine with Watercolor Flower (Blank Interior) figure with trident One finds hand-colored printed rewardsA handful of Victorian paper lace valentines today, because 'tis almost the season, and what a lovely thing to give to a beloved, including oneself. I'm fussy about ones I like, choosing these several from more than a hundred 19th c. examples I had the joy of perusing last weekend which had been collected over many years by a major Maine based paper dealer (who made notes on the envelopes of some, dating this one to the late 1840s) whose collection