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Cupid's Dream Valentine card
Publisher: Windsor & Sons
An unfolding narrative series of chromolithographs on coated/glazed paper mounted on a length of broad, white silk ribbon and attached to a coated paper top sheet with gilded lace-paper border. The title and narrative are printed onto the ribbon in blue ink: "CUPID'S DREAM / Cupid / dreams there is a place called Earth / He hastens to it / He prepares his bow / He selects his object / And takes his mark / The Victory is / gained! / he has not fought in vain [Cupid aims at reader] / Wilt thou be mine [inside a silver link frame]". Below is a collage of three-dimensional fabric and cut-paper flowers and leaves. Embossed at lower right [seen from verso]: WINDSOR. Coated paper back sheet. The inside pages are blank. This valentine relates to a letter found loose within Glaisher's valentine collection which was sent to Glaisher from 'J.C. Acton' in 1925. See Valentinesarchive1. The letter lists eight valentines with prices that were sent to Glaisher on approval, including one described as 'Cupid's dream', which was priced at 5 shillings. Glaisher seems to have kept at least three of the other valentines from this group, including a Stevengraph sachet valentine of the train 'Lord Howe', which is almost certainly the valentine listed as 'Railway train' in J.C. Acton's letter, the boxed valentine, P.14563-R, which is inscribed in Glaisher's hand, 'Miss Acton's valentine' and P.14384-R, which is the jewelled valentine. J.C. Acton was one of the daughters of the Brighton-based dealer, Walter Acton from whom Glaisher procured many of the valentines in his collection. The Actons sent Glaisher valentines on approval and he also visited their shop during trips to Brighton. One of the Misses Acton, presumably J.C. Acton, had her own collection of valentines of which Glaisher was very envious and from which he persuaded her to sell him some: 'I got her even to take one out of her album.'. See Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 892-1985, 14 September, 1924, letter to Miss Catherine Parsons (written on headed notepaper from The Grand Hotel, Brighton). P.14383-R was included in the exhibition of valentine cards, _For ever thine: the nineteenth century valentine_, held in the Charrington Print Room at the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1995, no. 69.
Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century
1850
-
1860
Accession number: P.14383-R
Primary reference Number: 214548
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Cupid's Dream" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214548 Accessed: 2024-11-14 16:38:47
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214548
|title=Cupid's Dream
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-14 16:38:47|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp77/P_14383_R_1_201703_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Cupid's Dream"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Cupid's Dream</figcaption>
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