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Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast: P.14345-R-64

An image of Valentine card
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An image of Valentine card
Current Location: In storage

Titles

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast
Valentine card

Maker(s)

Publisher: S. Marks & Sons

Entities

Categories

Description

Changeable Valentine. A hand-coloured lithograph on white wove paper with a cut-out figure of a woman singing from a sheet of music held in her right hand. The cut-out lifts to reveal the woman with the head and paws of a cat. A printed verse below: MUSIC HATH CHARMS TO SOOTH THE SAVAGE BREAST / How vain of your singing you are to be sure, / And your neighbours I fancy have much to endure, / For they say that you squall like a half crazy cat, / Only twenty times worse you are, even than that." The inside pages are blank. From a series of 15 Valentines with figures which lift to reveal their true characters which were bought at a sale, lot 590. See clipping from sale catalogue pasted to the album leaf below P.14345-R-54: 'Coloured Changeable Valentines of the 60's, pubd. by Marks, etc. ...'. This group of valentines was bought in 1923-24 from the bookseller, R.S. Frampton who was based at "Walton House", 37 Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park, London, N4. A Frampton sale catalogue from this date (No. 34) found in boxes containing Glaisher's valentines has lot 590 cut out from it. See P.14527-R. This fact can be verified by cross-referencing with an identical but complete book catalogue found among Glaisher's valentines, with the listing for lot 590 intact. See P.14528-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

Dating

19th Century
1860 - 1870

School or Style

British

Techniques used in production

Hand colouring
Lithography

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14345-R-64
Primary reference Number: 214349

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 14 February 2017 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 (2026) "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214349 Accessed: 2026-01-01 17:25:28

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214349 |title=Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2026-01-01 17:25:28|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast</figcaption>
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