Roses Are Red: Gorgeous Valentines from the 1800s

In their Valentine issue from 1940, the Post told the story of Sy Seidman, of New York’s East Side, who amassed a collection of 3500 old valentines, a dozen of which they featured in the magazine. (He also collected paper fans and mechanical banks.)

The tradition of Valentine cards continues, even in our digital age. As poet Charles Lamb noted, “This is the day on which those charming little missives, ycleped Valentines, cross and inter-cross each other at every street and turning. The weary and all forspent twopenny postman sinks beneath a load of delicate embarrassments, not his own.”