Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell

Image attached to P.14418-R-7

An image of Album. Valentine card. Mansell, Joseph, publisher, attributed (British, 1803-1874). White and silver embossed lace-paper with a design of flowers, putti and scrolling acanthus strapwork. An oval-shaped window at the centre contains a head and shoulders image of a young girl with brown ringleted hair and brown hat with ostrich feather reading a letter. The image is identifiable as a Baxter-process print with a 'key' plate of aquatint with stippling and woodblock colour printing overlaid. This particular design, known as 'The Plume' was produced by Joseph Mansell, who was a licensee of the Baxter-process print, and is seen in other valentines by Mansell; See: http://newbaxtersociety.org/features/2013feb.aspx. Although P.14418-R-7 does not appear to have a maker's stamp, it is almost certainly by Joseph Mansell. A lozenge below the central image bears a lithographed motto printed in blue ink: 'May happiness ever / attend thee'. The front paper is adhered to the back. A hand-written inscription in graphite on the album leaf above: '1861'. This is probably a transcription of a date found on the verso of the valentine or inside it prior to mounting into the album. The hand is unknown, but is the same as seen above no. 1 in the same album. See, _A Pictorial Catalogue of Joseph Mansell’s Baxter Process Prints_ compiled by Michael Martin, Brian Lawrence and Roger Smith for the New Baxter Society, 2006, Sheet 28 - Children, reproduced no. 174, 'The Plume', p.51. P.14342-R-33 employs the same Mansell Baxter-process print as a cut-out, but with a slightly different silvered paper design and with a different motto. Baxter-process print, circa 1860 to circa 1870.
Notes: Established as a fancy stationer in 1835 at 35, Red Lion Square, London. One of the main manufacturers of embossed and lace-paper and valentines from the 1840s to the 1860s. Published Christmas and New Year cards from the 1850s into the 1880s. A licensee of the Baxter print-making process from 1849.

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Album. Valentine card. Mansell, Joseph, publisher, attributed (British, 1803-1874). White and silver embossed lace-paper with a design of flowers, putti and scrolling acanthus strapwork. An oval-shaped window at the centre contains a head and shoulders image of a young girl with brown ringleted hair and brown hat with ostrich feather reading a letter. The image is identifiable as a Baxter-process print with a 'key' plate of aquatint with stippling and woodblock colour printing overlaid. This particular design, known as 'The Plume' was produced by Joseph Mansell, who was a licensee of the Baxter-process print, and is seen in other valentines by Mansell; See: http://newbaxtersociety.org/features/2013feb.aspx. Although P.14418-R-7 does not appear to have a maker's stamp, it is almost certainly by Joseph Mansell. A lozenge below the central image bears a lithographed motto printed in blue ink: 'May happiness ever / attend thee'. The front paper is adhered to the back. A hand-written inscription in graphite on the album leaf above: '1861'. This is probably a transcription of a date found on the verso of the valentine or inside it prior to mounting into the album. The hand is unknown, but is the same as seen above no. 1 in the same album. See, _A Pictorial Catalogue of Joseph Mansell’s Baxter Process Prints_ compiled by Michael Martin, Brian Lawrence and Roger Smith for the New Baxter Society, 2006, Sheet 28 - Children, reproduced no. 174, 'The Plume', p.51. P.14342-R-33 employs the same Mansell Baxter-process print as a cut-out, but with a slightly different silvered paper design and with a different motto. Baxter-process print, circa 1860 to circa 1870. Notes: Established as a fancy stationer in 1835 at 35, Red Lion Square, London. One of the main manufacturers of embossed and lace-paper and valentines from the 1840s to the 1860s. Published Christmas and New Year cards from the 1850s into the 1880s. A licensee of the Baxter print-making process from 1849.

Image data

Accession Number: P.14418-R-7
Aperture: f/19.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
Photographer name: Andrew Norman
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 695 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
Filesize: 374.28kB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 19/1

Key words

19th Century acanthus aquatint Baxter-process print bonnet British School brunette clothes clothing colour printing costume embossed embossing fashion feathered feathers female Fitz_PDP floral flowers hair hairstyle hats Joseph Mansell lace paper love letter ostrich feathers oval paper print putti putto reader reading reading a letter ringlets romance romantic stipple stippling Valentine cards Valentines Valentines cards Victorian woodblock young young woman

<div class="text-center"> <figure class="figure"> <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/P_14418_R_7_201712_adn21_dc2.jpg" alt="Valentine card" class="img-fluid" /> <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell</figcaption> </figure> </div>