Grosvenor Prints

[Vinegar Valentine.] In mind, in features, and in make, [/] You can't deny that you're an Ape.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Tinted lithograph. Sheet: 170 x 110mm (6¾ x 4¼").
A Victorian valentine card poking fun at a man with a top hat and dog, comparing him to a monkey.
[Ref: 43814] £35.00 (£42.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] You are fat, large, and ugly, and quite over-fed, [/] You waddle-not walk-your obliged to be led; [/] Twenty stone is your weight, sure if it's a pound, [/] A sweetheart to match you is not to be found.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Hand-coloured woodcut. Sheet: 225 x 130mm (9 x 5"). Creasing.
A cruel Victorian valentine poking fun at a large woman. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 43806] £30.00 (£36.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] A mermaid I think, will be your bride, [/] If even a mermaid you can find, [/] Willing to take such a creature as you, [/] You're the fishiest animal ever I knew.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Colour-printed lithograph. Sheet: 215 x 125mm (8½ x 5").
A cruel Victorian valentine poking fun at a fisherman. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 43805] £45.00 (£54.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] The Green-Eyed Monster.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Tinted lithograph. Sheet: 210 x 125mm (8¼ x 5").
A valentines card showing a woman, dressed in green, scowling at a young couple walking arm-in-arm. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 43809] £40.00 (£48.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] So very pert and very smart [/] In gossip and in strife; [/] A working servant maid they say, [/] Always makes a lazy wife.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Hand-coloured woodcut. Sheet: 255 x 185mm (10 x 7¼"). Creasing.
A Victorian valentine commenting on the suitability of a maid for a wife.
[Ref: 43815] £30.00 (£36.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] Abroad You're Quite the Masher and Smoke Your Cigarette! At Home You Are a Puppy Whom No One Cares to Pet!
[n.d., c.1850.]
Photo lithograph, printed in black and red. Sheet (unfolded) 375 x 130mm (14½ x 5"). Very slight toning of edges.
A portrait of a dandy with monocle, cigarette and cane, unfolds to reveal a bulldog on a chain lunging at a cat. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 61325] £70.00 (£84.00 incl.VAT) view all images for this item

Pomatum-haired puppy, how charming you are, / With your bold stareing eyes and brilliant cigar [...] And though in tour own estimation you shine, / You are not bright enough, Sir, for my Valentine.
London S. Marks, and Sons [n.d., c.1840].
Coloured wood engraving with letterpress. Sheet 185 x 130mm (7¼ x 5"). Laid on album paper.
A poisonous valentine with a man with the head of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
[Ref: 60999] £95.00 (£114.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] This creature is willing to marry, / Can you resist the temptation? / Why ladies to you so tarry? / His match is not in the nation. / Take him & mould him as you please. / What all refuse! ain't he the cheese?
[n.d., c.1860.]
Coloured woodcut. 205 x 120mm (8 x 4¼").
A writing sheet shows a satire of a man wearing a monocle and checked trousers. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 63286] £65.00 (£78.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] Without beauty of person or mind, / For such graces admirers find; / Such fantastic sport will not do, / Of Folly and ugliness too.
Published by G. Gilbert 2 Green Ardour Court of Bailey.
Rare woodcut with letterpress text. Sheet 180 x 120mm (7 x 4¾"). Small tear in edge, paper stuck down on unprinted area. Messy.
A woman with voluminous sleeves, carrying an umbrella.
[Ref: 54599] £65.00 (£78.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] Ah! now I well know what it was that I smelt, [/] It was the bottle-nosed, rabbit mouthed dealer in felt...
[n.d., c. 1850.]
Hand-coloured woodcut. Sheet: 245 x 180mm (9¾ x 7"). Creasing.
An example of a cruel Victorian Valentine, whose intended recipient is a felt dealer who is depicted ironing.
[Ref: 43796] £60.00 (£72.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] Although a Lion you appear, [/] You're more than half an Ass I hear.
[n.d., c.1850.]
Tinted lithograph. Sheet: 165 x 110mm (6½ x 4¼").
A cruel Victorian valentine, poking fun at a man shown with a cigar and a cane. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 43808] £30.00 (£36.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] A Beauty in the Green & Yellow Leaf.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Tinted lithograph, image 210 x 125mm, on folded sheet.
A dog lover. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7059] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] An Engraver, you may be by trade, / But withal you're a curious blade, / Whose rule every night, is to go to bed tight, / That the bloom on your nose my ne'er fade. / Chop away, cut and butcher your block, / Never listen again for a knock, / For you in my eyes, I loath and despise / As the ugliest sheep in the flock.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Colour-printed wood engraving, image 205 x 130mm, on a folded sheet.
A wood-engraver, smoking a pipe. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7069] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] You cry your Fish so loud and shrill / Turbot, Mackarel, Plaice and Brill, / And on the women passing by, / Your leer and cast a fishy eye; / Now who on earth would ever wish / To Have a man who smells of fish.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Colour-printed wood engraving, image 205 x 130mm, on a folded sheet. [Image with light reflection from gum arabic.]
Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7066] £80.00 (£96.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] Will music win your heart to love?
[n.d., c.1850.]
Coloured wood engraving. Printed area 170 x 100mm (6¾ x 4") on front of paper folded once. Some creasing.
A valentine. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 44361] £45.00 (£54.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] No use on me to spend your smiles, / I really must resist your wiles; / It may be rude but I decline / A Girl of such a public line, / Barmaids who'll flirt with any spoon / Will bring a man to sorrow soon.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Colour-printed wood engraving, image 205 x 130mm, on a folded sheet. [Image with light reflection from gum arabic.]
A bottle-nosed drinker rejecting the advances of a barmaid with a body of a bottle & cask. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7065] £75.00 (£90.00 incl.VAT)

A Postman, ha, what a guy! [/] Who prigs the Letters on the Sly; [/] Do not think I shall e'er incline [/] To have a chap like you for a Valentine.
W.S. Fortey, Steam Printers, Monmouth Ct. [n.d., c.1830.]
4 pp. with coloured wood engraving on the front. Front 255 x 190mm (10 x 7½"). Holes in top edge, some creasing and spotting.
A letterhead vinegar valentine featuring a postman with a roseate nose.
Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 64194] £80.00 (£96.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] Haste thee with this Valentine, thou silly man of letters, / And try to do the best you can to serve and please your betters. / For I'd sooner live an old maid or else give up the ghost, / Than wed a grinning postman, as stupid as a post.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Colour-printed wood engraving with letterpress, image 210 x 165mm, on folded sheet.
Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7070] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] You'd like to be a Swell, I see, [/] But really it won't do; [/] The right is whay you wish to be, [/] The left, my love, is you! [/] No. 30.
[n.d., c.1840.]
Coloured wood engraving. Sheet 220 x 185mm (8¾ x 7¼").
A vinegar valentine featuring a man with two faces, one good-looking, the other grotesque. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 64195] £65.00 (£78.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] A Wolf in Sheep' Clothing.
[n.d., c.1870.]
Coloured lithograph, sheet 365 x 250mm. Folded, some spotting at edges.
Holding a bible and an umbrella. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 7028] £95.00 (£114.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine] The Sunflower. You are, indeed most brazen-faced And Fiery red's your hair, The Sunflower, can alone with thee, In those respects, compare...
[n.d. c.1840]
Rare hand-coloured lithograph, sheet 250 x 200mm (10 x 8"). Creasing. Laid on album sheet.
An insulting valentine comparing a man to a sunflower, how his face turns to every woman like the flower to the sun. Large building in background "Nurseryman & Florist". Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 68148] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)

[Vinegar Valentine.] Oh! Whisky is your soul's delight, / Your only Valentine- / Go steep your brains in alcohol- / You never shall be mine!
[n.d., c.1860.]
Coloured wood engraving. Sheet 220 x 165mm (8½ x 6½").
A battered-looking man stands, glass in hand. Vinegar Valentines are rather unflattering and often insulting; some addressed to trades and professions, perhaps given to customers to their suppliers, rather than true valentines.
[Ref: 42432] £95.00 (£114.00 incl.VAT)

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