ST. VALENTINE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 156, 30 December 1925, Page 6

ST. VALENTINE

FOR 1926— AND AFTER

REVIVAL OF AN OLD CUSTOM.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, ,216t November. Every business .enterprise to be profitable must have public support, but success is doubly assured if a venture is undertaken in response to reiterated requests from the public themselves. The latter is the position in regard to the coming revival of a very old and charming annual custom which Was the vogue till some thirty years ago—namely, the exchange of the Valentine on 14th February.

Sir Adolph Tuck tells me that the project which he and his directors have decided to embark is purely the outcome of requests from the man in the street. Four years ago the firm's travellers throughout the British Isles were asked by the retailers if it would be possible to revive the Valentine because their customers had suggested it over and over again. The experiment Would, no doubt, have met with success several years ago, but Sir Adolph preferred to bide "his iinie. In the interval the demand seems to have become really solid, and preparations have been made to supply an evident want. "We are going to give the public something for Which they ask, and so we feel that the interesting project is assured of success. The tfade is not forcing something that ii not '■ asked for." Already the old love misgive, in bulk consignment, is on. its >yay to countries at a distan'ce, including New Zealand, so that it will be available for the festal day, but in the'Mother Country the public will have to wait until after the thrills of Christmas and the excitement of the Winter sales before being introduced to the Valentines Which have been prepared for 1926.

A BRITISH PRODUCTION. Their variety Is considerable; the price decided on for many is so moderate that the message thus daintily conveyed will find its way as frequently into the homes of the middle classes as of the wealthy —the prices will suit every purse, to the Valentine is not necessarily a luxury article. Furthermore—and_ this is a feature which should appeal to every British patriot—the work is entirely British: the tokens have been designed by British artists and carried out in London by hundreds of skilled British workers using materials mainly British* A small proportion of some of the beautiful silks and satins may have come from France, but otherwise the production is entirely a Home one. Purchasers of dainty articles often foi'get to inquire about the country of origin, and so they become possessed of foreign-made goods, but the mole one has the opportunity to examine British-ra'atle products, the more one wonders why foreign-made articles huve the vogue they have. The thoughtless buyer does not give his country a fair chance. ** PRINCESS MARY'S PICTURE. No money has been spared in the production of the noAV Valentine, and the • best artist designers have been for some time employed. People who already ate well acquainted with the beautiful card designs of Jennie Harbour will not be surprised to notice that her Valentine subjects are among the most choice, particularly those dealing -with liurly Victorian types. Princess Alary, Viscount,ess Lascellcs, lias generously lent Sir Adolph Tuck a Howard Davy painting, whose figure subject, ill u garden Betting, has reproduced ideally as a Valentine. DELICATE FRAGRANCE. Without going too much into detail, one may briefly mention that there are seventy-five different designs, slhi that each Valentine will be daintily and separately boxed. The pot-pourri is one of the most attractive and pleasant forms of the missive, its fine fragrance emanating from real flower petals which are cleverly applied to the cal'd and then covered with a vase design, through the perforation of which the delicate scent escapes. The pot-pourri will' last for a long while. . Beautiful bird designs vie with ribbontied iloral bouquets. Of figure studies the'i'eare many—and some of the ''Early Victorians" are very modern maidens with their lip-sticks, with which they delicately toy. The double card is tied With ribbon, into whose knot there is introduced a rosebud or a forget-me-not spray. Each one is edged with lafie of gold" or with fine needlepoint, or else is net.hi a border of coloured silk fringe. It is needless to say, o£ course, that appropriate verses will be found inside each card. These love lines are not signed, the idea being'.that they might have been penned by the sender. It requires no stretch of the imagination to picture the attractive displays ■which the vendors of Valentines will be able to make soon after Christinas. The firm naturally confines itself to the production of the card Valentine, leaving it to jewellers and others to do what ihey like in their individual lines. SENTIMENTALLY UNALTERED. Although manners and customs have greatly changed since the Victorian era, and modern ways are very different from what they used to be, the young man and the maid oE to-day respond jtist as spontaneously to the call of sentiment as they did in the good old days, and henceforth St. Valentine's Day. 'should be a red-letter date on their calendars, not alone in 1926, but iu the yours to follow. ' _ 85, Fleet street. -•■fM^''