Are you celebrating Valentines Day- try our social science resources

Are you one of the millions of people celebrating Valentines day today?

according to Statista.average predicted spending on chocolate will rise by 16% this year.

their data shows that in 2017 - the average spend for women was 20.42 pounds while men spent 39.70 !

Here are some great sources for exploring the social history of Valentines Day

One of the earliest surviving Valentine is a 15th-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife, which commences.

"Je suis desja d'amour tanné
Ma tres doulce Valentinée..."

— Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI, lines 1–2
See some examples of his poetry (in French only) via historic copies from Gallica

Early Valentines in English are the

the Paston Letters, written in 1477 by Margery Brewes to her future husband John Paston "my right well-beloved Valentine. They have been digitised by a British Library project . You can view images of the text online

as well as a discussion of the medieval origins of Valentines day from curators

It form s part of the fabulous new Discovering medieval literature website which has examples of original manusacripts plus contextual essays.

Fabulous UK collections of historic Valentines cards include:

Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection at Manchester Metropolitan University which gathers 450 Valentine's Day cards dating from early nineteenth century Britain, printed by the major publishers of the day. view some examples online from 1865

Dobbs, kidd and co.

and a gallery of images which include vinegar valentines!

The
Museum of London has over 1,700 cards

explore them online via Collections online.

The Victorian and Albert Museum also has an extensive collection. This blog post highlight their history with some interesting images. Look out for the snake in the grass example!
search for more examples in their collections