29/05/2026
Possibly the most favouritest item we have ever bought and impossibly romantic to boot! An original Regency watercolour valentine, with a rebus none the less, a puzzle made up with pictures as words, think a message spelt out with Jane Austen period emojis. Interpreted as follows:
‘My dearest Angel, Accept the hand and burning heart of thy honest gentleman, to whom thou art much dearer than gold.’
And as if it couldn’t get any better, a dedicated original hand written poem on the reverse to Anna. It goes like this:
“What is a Valentine sweet Anna say?
Is it a lover of a single day
Is it a trifler who with flame and dart,
Of painted paper, seeks to win your heart,
Is it the favorite of a morning glance,
Met with by accident and seen by chance,
If so I am not one to serve such terms,
With no false flame or as bad do I burn
In no fictitious sorrows do I deal,
It is no plaything passion that I feel
Device I’ve none, my tenderness to prove,
Without device, in sober truth I love,
In short the much I wish that you were mine;
I cannot wish to be your Valentine
To love and to be loved for one short day
No I will be yours for ever if I may. –
But should you some more favor’d lover choose,
Reject my passion and my heart refuse,
I’ll quit this hated world, a victim to my love
To sing of “the Anna” in the realms above.”
Not quite yet on the website, but available for sale. Xx
