Antique Valentine Collection Album.

$750.00

Item Number: 116024

Folio scrapbook containing a collection of Valentines printed in the early 1900s. Quarto, original boards with gilt central floral motif. From the collection of Marilyn Cox. In very good condition.

Privately printed Valentine's Day cards became popular during the Victorian era in Britain and entered the mass market in the United States in the mid 1800s, due for the most part to the designs of Esther Howland. Howland, whose father owned the largest stationary store in Worcester, Massachusetts, is credited with creating the first mass market printed Valentines in the United States, selling over $100,000 in cards each year at the peak of her success.