Tokens of Love

This delightful little volume presents a vast array of the charming trinkets lovers have bestowed upon one another through the ages. Gloves, jewelry, carved spoons, flowers fraught with symbolic meanings, all have played a part in the mysterious rites of courtship. The formalization of love tokens reached its height during the wonderfully sentimental Victorian age, which witnessed the birth of the ever-popular Valentine card. And what Valentine cards the Victorians produced - layers of delicately embossed paper engulfed in clouds of lace; pop-up scenes of starry-eyed couples aboard ships: tiny albumin photographs surrounded by spun glass.