Receiving a ‘Vinegar Valentine’: These vicious cards were the ultimate insult

It hasn't always been pink hearts and sugary words. At one time there was an equally high demand for vicious Valentine cards, says Robert Hume

Vinegar Valentine's: ways to bend Cupid's arrow!

From the mid-1830s, Irish newspapers came festooned with adverts for “sentimental” Valentine cards, printed on elegant paper, accompanied by silver lace envelopes.

Every February, “fancy stationers” took pleasure in launching their latest designs: Secret admirers could avail themselves of perfumed floral valentines, Shakespeare valentines, and musical valentines that played a tune when opened.