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xissifeiasmb w5s33k sszzz2z t valentines day tradition is steeped in history no one knows exactly when young lovers vtegari slipping love notes to one another but theuncertain originsjof strvalentines day havent dampened its popularity in fact st vafehtinesday is the second largest card sehsmg bccasjonin canada after christinas lveloitteries y v most historians agree that many of the ritu als associated with day stem from an ancient roman festival lupercalia heldin february in honor of the pastoral god i lupercus during the festival young men and women were paired by drawing namesin a kind of love lottery the first valentine the earliest known valentine was sent in 1415 bycharles duke of orleans tohis wife while hewas a prisonerinme tower of ton- don copies of these early rhymed loye letters are in the british museurjkt- i bythe day was well established to 1669 abdund collection of verses to help men in their courtship was printed in france these valentine writers bound booklets containing a vast array of verses arid mes sages which could be copied onto giltedged letter paper became popular throughout europe and were brought to this country by early colonists commercial valentines commercial valentines were introduced in europe in the early 1800s these printed valentines were made from copper plates a practical method of mariufacturirigpapef lace was invented in 1834 by jonathan king of london v his wife contributed the novel idea of scat tering bitsj of tiriiel feamere arid dried flow- ers over the valentines y she also discovered that powered colored glass rhade a superb glitter commercial valentines of the victorian era became increasingly elaborate around 1840 the first mechanical valen- tineswere on the market by pulling a tab a figure or object on the card could be made to move some had elaborate honeycomb popouts or otoerthreedtaieifeional features taleritines innorth america esther howland of wprchester maine was the first publisher of yaleritulesi she began publishing in 1 849 elaborate handmade cards mat bftehiibstss tol0 a few sold for as much as 35 another american greeting card publisher louis prang of boston brought lithography to perfection sometimes using as many as 20 colors on his cards what england invented now developed into a valentine card tradition a social custom enjoyed by millions of people throughout the world