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Can you cipher, darling?: P.14342-R-47

An image of Valentine card
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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Can you cipher, darling?

Maker(s)

Dobbs, Henry

Entities

Categories

Description

Embossed, lace-paper of bird and vine design mounted over a pink slip paper with a pair of cut-paper lithographed and hand-coloured white cockatoos, a die-cut chromolithograph of red roses and a novelty cut-paper slate onto which Dobb's has written in white: 'Can you / cipher / darling?' and with punning answer below in manufacturer's handwritten inscription: 'Yes dear! / I sigh for thee'. The slate lifts to reveal a hand-written inscription: 'May our / love multiply / but let us / never divide'. The lack of paper backing means that the valentine is unmarked, but the remaining components have the hallmarks of Henry Dobbs. An example of the same valentine, without the slip paper and with a slightly different sprig of flowers (which is indicative of the variety that was available to consumers) is in the Jonathan King collection of valentines at the Museum of London: 34.170/320.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

School or Style

British

Techniques used in production

Baxter-process print
Hand colouring
Collage

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14342-R-47
Primary reference Number: 206527

Audit data

Created: Thursday 13 August 2015 Updated: Tuesday 26 March 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

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

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Can you cipher, darling?" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/206527 Accessed: 2025-12-14 16:26:56

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/206527 |title=Can you cipher, darling? |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-14 16:26:56|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Can you cipher, darling?</figcaption>
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