Skip to main content

Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell

Image attached to P.14418-R-7

An image of Album. Valentine card. Mansell, Joseph, publisher, attributed (British, 1803-1874). White and silver embossed lace-paper with a design of flowers, putti and scrolling acanthus strapwork. An oval-shaped window at the centre contains a head and shoulders image of a young girl with brown ringleted hair and brown hat with ostrich feather reading a letter. The image is identifiable as a Baxter-process print with a 'key' plate of aquatint with stippling and woodblock colour printing overlaid. This particular design, known as 'The Plume' was produced by Joseph Mansell, who was a licensee of the Baxter-process print, and is seen in other valentines by Mansell; See: http://newbaxtersociety.org/features/2013feb.aspx. Although P.14418-R-7 does not appear to have a maker's stamp, it is almost certainly by Joseph Mansell. A lozenge below the central image bears a lithographed motto printed in blue ink: 'May happiness ever / attend thee'. The front paper is adhered to the back. A hand-written inscription in graphite on the album leaf above: '1861'. This is probably a transcription of a date found on the verso of the valentine or inside it prior to mounting into the album. The hand is unknown, but is the same as seen above no. 1 in the same album. See, _A Pictorial Catalogue of Joseph Mansell’s Baxter Process Prints_ compiled by Michael Martin, Brian Lawrence and Roger Smith for the New Baxter Society, 2006, Sheet 28 - Children, reproduced no. 174, 'The Plume', p.51. P.14342-R-33 employs the same Mansell Baxter-process print as a cut-out, but with a slightly different silvered paper design and with a different motto. Baxter-process print, circa 1860 to circa 1870.
Notes: Established as a fancy stationer in 1835 at 35, Red Lion Square, London. One of the main manufacturers of embossed and lace-paper and valentines from the 1840s to the 1860s. Published Christmas and New Year cards from the 1850s into the 1880s. A licensee of the Baxter print-making process from 1849.

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

About this image

Album. Valentine card. Mansell, Joseph, publisher, attributed (British, 1803-1874). White and silver embossed lace-paper with a design of flowers, putti and scrolling acanthus strapwork. An oval-shaped window at the centre contains a head and shoulders image of a young girl with brown ringleted hair and brown hat with ostrich feather reading a letter. The image is identifiable as a Baxter-process print with a 'key' plate of aquatint with stippling and woodblock colour printing overlaid. This particular design, known as 'The Plume' was produced by Joseph Mansell, who was a licensee of the Baxter-process print, and is seen in other valentines by Mansell; See: http://newbaxtersociety.org/features/2013feb.aspx. Although P.14418-R-7 does not appear to have a maker's stamp, it is almost certainly by Joseph Mansell. A lozenge below the central image bears a lithographed motto printed in blue ink: 'May happiness ever / attend thee'. The front paper is adhered to the back. A hand-written inscription in graphite on the album leaf above: '1861'. This is probably a transcription of a date found on the verso of the valentine or inside it prior to mounting into the album. The hand is unknown, but is the same as seen above no. 1 in the same album. See, _A Pictorial Catalogue of Joseph Mansell’s Baxter Process Prints_ compiled by Michael Martin, Brian Lawrence and Roger Smith for the New Baxter Society, 2006, Sheet 28 - Children, reproduced no. 174, 'The Plume', p.51. P.14342-R-33 employs the same Mansell Baxter-process print as a cut-out, but with a slightly different silvered paper design and with a different motto. Baxter-process print, circa 1860 to circa 1870. Notes: Established as a fancy stationer in 1835 at 35, Red Lion Square, London. One of the main manufacturers of embossed and lace-paper and valentines from the 1840s to the 1860s. Published Christmas and New Year cards from the 1850s into the 1880s. A licensee of the Baxter print-making process from 1849.

Image data

  • Accession Number: P.14418-R-7
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/19.0
  • Focal length: 120
  • Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
  • Photographer name: Andrew Norman
  • Image height: 1025 pixels
  • Image width: 695 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 374.28kB
  • Exposure time: 1/125
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 19/1

Key words

19th Century acanthus aquatint Baxter-process print bonnet British School brunette clothes clothing colour printing costume embossed embossing fashion feathered feathers female Fitz_PDP floral flowers hair hairstyle hats Joseph Mansell lace paper love letter ostrich feathers oval paper print putti putto reader reading reading a letter ringlets romance romantic stipple stippling Valentine cards Valentines Valentines cards Victorian woodblock young young woman

Colours in this image

rgb(78,73,62), rgb(214,201,179), rgb(232,228,217), rgb(120,113,97), rgb(126,101,70), rgb(120,70,48), rgb(165,147,123), rgb(135,135,122), rgb(203,168,118), rgb(168,167,153), rgb(68,156,172)

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-3322227226 Accessed: 2024-11-05 06:55:27

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-3322227226 |title=Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 06:55:27|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/images/media-218268

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/P_14418_R_7_201712_adn21_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Valentine card"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Valentine card, published by Joseph Mansell</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...