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Curious Hieroglyphick Valentine: P.14348-R-14

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Curious Hieroglyphick Valentine

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Valentine card of cream laid paper, roughly 8vo size with a lithograph of black ink (uncoloured). A rebus valentine printed within a rectangular border of leaves punctuated with quivers of arrows, bows and flaming hearts. The title is printed in upper-case, double-edged lettering: "CURIOUS HIEROGLYPHICK VALENTINE". The translation of the rebus is as follows: "Fair is the morning the bird leaves its nest / and sings a salute to the crown. / The sun in full splendor embroiders the east / and brightens the dew on the lawn. / Tis Valentines day and my love I address / This page can boast of a flame / So pure and so true I want words to express / but I ask you to give it a name, / And while my dear love on this page you gaze / heave a sigh for a heart that is true. / And believe that it such warm affection conveys / as exists for no other but you." The inside pages are blank.
The John Johnson Collection (Bodleian Library, Oxford) holds a hand-coloured example of this rebus valentine, which is dated circa 1840s. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8493000/8493948.stm. The John Johnson Collection example is also reproduced in Frank Staff, _The Valentine & Its Origins_ (1969), no. 97, p.77.The Fitzwilliam version is clearly a later reprint and is one of a series of cards on cream laid paper with uncoloured lithographs, apparently all later reprints, mounted together in album P.14348-R.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

School or Style

British

Techniques used in production

Lithograph

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14348-R-14
Primary reference Number: 206602

Audit data

Created: Thursday 13 August 2015 Updated: Tuesday 26 March 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Curious Hieroglyphick Valentine" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/206602 Accessed: 2025-12-13 16:55:47

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/206602 |title=Curious Hieroglyphick Valentine |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-13 16:55:47|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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