The history of the Valentine's Day card 

If you walk into any gift shop during early February it would be next to impossible to not see all the Valentine’s Day cards on sale. After all, the sheer volume of Valentine’s Day cards that are sold during February are second only to Christmas in terms of dollar amounts. Now, some people may assume that when they see these cards that there is a product of the modern era. This is not accurate as these cards have been around in one form or another since the Middle Ages. 

Originally, the celebration of romance that was performed in the Middle Ages was the exchange of romantic songs. Around 1500, printed versions of the sentiments of these songs were developed and they were exchanged in the place of singing verses. These early versions of the card were quite popular in England and these is a legend that exists to the effect that Charles the Duke of Orleans “invented” the notion by writing poems to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. These poems had nothing to do with Valentine’s Day, but a little revisionist history has been performed to make the connection. 

By the 1500’s February 14th became a day of romantic celebration in the western world and it was deemed the day of the year to exchange this written greetings. (Please note that February 14th was not deemed Valentine’s Day until 1969. It would seem that the Catholic Church fused the celebration of St. Valentine with the romantic tradition from the medieval times) 

In the 18th Century, many people began to sell booklets and pamphlets that contained poetic and romantic verses. These booklets were huge sellers and that possessed a certain coquettish charm. By the 19th Century, the popularity of these written greetings became huge in America and since America was largely founded on Christian tradition, the cards started to embody religious messages within their romantic verses. 

In 1840, a young woman named Esther Howland developed the prototype of the modern Valentine’s Day card and they proved to be popular. However, they did not become massively popular until the Civil War era when the separation of loved ones due to war created an “absence makes the heart grow fonder” atmosphere that made these cards even more popular. Additionally, the advent of machine produced (as opposed to hand made) cards allowed production of the card to skyrocket. In time, the development of a solid and reliable national post office delivery system would facilitate the exchanging of Valentine’s Day cards to a significant degree and this played a huge role in the sales of these cards. Ok, that is a large understatement. The sales of the cards were MASSIVE and it was obvious that these greeting cards had struck a nerve in the public even though the February 14th holiday of Valentine’s Day was “unofficial.” 

Even though several hundreds of years have passed since the inception of exchanging greetings, it is obvious that this tradition has not lost any of its appeal or popularity and will continue for many more years to come. After all, the cards do look great.