Vinegar Valentine

A vinegar valentine showing a woman from the sad with a sour expression. The title of the card is A face that would stop a clock with the below text following: In prison you ought to do to be doing some time, for to wear such a face must be surely a crime. If you mongst gorillas had chance to be born, they would have disowned you with loathing and scorn; for a monkey – no matter how homely a brute – one place beside you would be ranked as a bute.

The de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection houses the Richard August Neubert Antique Valentine Collection. This valentine collection holds over 650 valentines dating from 1838 up to the 1980’s. Many of these valentines are beautiful, intricate cards, but the collection also includes caricatured comic valentines complete with cruel verses, known as vinegar valentines.

Vinegar valentines were first produced in America around the 1840s. Many of these humorous insult cards only cost a penny to purchase which helped them gain popularity with children and adults alike. Most of these valentines were sent anonymously, with many of them targeted at women, balding men, and certain professions such as artists and surgeons. These valentines were usually produced on a single sheet of paper with an unattractive caricature illustration and usually four to six lines of poetry mocking the recipient.

If you are interested in viewing the Richard August Neubert Antique Valentine Collection or the vinegar valentines, visit the 3rd floor of McCain Library and Archives or contact Ellen Ruffin at or 601.266.6543. To see more Items of the Month, click here.

Text by Leah Rials, Digitization Specialist