A woman bends forward towards a crowd of women, in the "Grecian Bend" created by wearing fashionable restrictive gowns and bustles. Behind her are signs that read " The Original Grecian Bend for State Millener" and "The Pink of Fashion, Mme. Lecreme." The Grecian Bend style of bustle became popular after 1869. New York city directories for 1867-72 list Fisher and Denison at the same address, noting that Denison lived in Maryland., Text: You're all aflame with woman's right, / And hope thereby to see strange sights; / No place too bold for such a trump-- / You'd even go so far as mount the stump. / If you thus cast all social laws aside, / You'll never be a happy bride., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a tapered, bustled, ruffled skirt that forces her to bend forward in the Grecian Bend. She holds a small parasol and wears a hat. The valentine mocks the recipient for thinking her fashionable dress is attractive to men. The Grecian Bend style of bustle became popular after 1869., Text: A slave to Fashion's tyrant laws, / You court each silly fop's applause; / Did you but know what I can see, / How shocked, I fancy, you would be. / You will, I hope, leave off this style, / Your dress provokes a pitying smile., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman bends forward in the Grecian Bend caused by fashionable bustles and restrictive skirts. She holds up her skirt revealing her ankles and petticoats. The Grecian bend style of bustle became popular after 1869., Text: Thou languishing young lady-bird, / Thou Angel quite untainted; / With ruby lips, and well formed hips, / Pray tell me, -- are you painted? / You're uglier than the Gorgon / That frightened folks to stone, / The Grecian Bend don't help you, / So ugly have you grown., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown with a tiered, tapered skirt over a Grecian Bend style of bustle. The Grecian Bend became popular after 1869., Text: "Pray, what's the matter," said a friend to me, / "With that young woman that I see?" / I stopped and looked and calmly said, / "The wits have surely left her head, / But where they're gone there's no telling / Unless you judge by large swelling.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a dress with a bustle and a hat with a small veil. The woman leans forward in the Grecian Bend, caused by fashionable restrictive, bustled gowns. The Grecian Bend style of bustle became popular after 1869., Text: You're not so bad looking as some I know, / You're not so ill mannered as others I know, / And you generally make a respectable show; / But you're deficient in brains, I'm sorry to say, / Because you dress in such a ridiculous way, / And consider the Bend such a gorgeous array., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown with furbelows and holds her nose up. A peacock stands next to her. The sender rejects the recipient because of her vanity., Text: With head in air, and peacock pride, / So vain and empty, loving show; / On you the gentle name of bride, / I certainly would not bestow., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The belle's dress is bell-shaped. She carries a parasol. The valentine uses slang, and it emphasizes that the belle is very talkative and uses such slang., Text: My parents named me Is-a-bel, / And fashion says I be a belle; / My clatt'ring tongue thumpbump pell-mell, / The same to every ear will tell; / Now see my flounces cut a swell, / Now hear the jingle, ding, dong, bell., Cf. Valentine 8.37 and Valentine 12.34., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown with large sleeves and a headdress with large feathers. "Upper Ten" refers to the elite., Text: As a fair belle of Fashion, / I charm all the men, / And a husband I'll catch / 'Mongst the tall "Upper Ten.", Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The belle wears a red shawl and skirt with furbelows. She carries a tiny parasol, as large umbrellas were unfashionable. The valentine criticizes the belle for being too talkative., Text: Though beautiful, and formed to please, / Fair, witty, charming, gay, and young,/ I can't forget while thus I gaze,/ That every bell must have a tongue., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a dress with a yellow skirt with furbelows and a small red bodice. Behind her a couple dances underneath a chandelier, and a man plays a cello on a balcony. The valentine mocks the recipient for being a wall-flower., Text: Why do you mingle in the whirl / Where the dancers close are clinging? / You're but a wall-flower, my girl, / While a belle should surely ring in!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown and a green shawl that resembles butterfly wings. She holds a fan and wears a bonnet. The valentine mocks women of fashion as artificial., Text: If you had a husband, giddy one, / He soon would in the gutter lie; / With you for a mate, he'd be undone; / You're but a painted Butterfly., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears an enormous skirt with furbelows., Text: Expansive! expensive! extensive! exuberant! / Skirts, more than the city's outskirts, protuberant! / Not only the height of the fashion has come to this, / But the breadth of the fashion is Crinoline bliss., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
The valentine shows a woman wearing a crown, gown, and holding a parasol. A young man holds the train of her coat. The valentine mocks the woman's too-slender stature and excessively large crinoline., Text: A skeleton in figure / You still are bound to shine, / The great among the greatest / In size of Crinoline., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman carries a tiny parasol and wears a gown with a hoop skirt and furbelows., Text: This, truly, is the age of all things new, / For even women grown, and young maids too, / Believe not now in either Heart or Head, / But in the size to which their hoops may spread., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a gown that reveals her long feet and ankles. She holds a fan., Text: What though in silks and lace you shine, / And though with care are painted! / I never wish'd to make you mine, / Since first we were acquainted!, Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
A woman wears a dress with a high neckline; her corsage and handkerchief suggest that she may be at a social function.. She slouches against a wall between and door and a picture frame, and her nearly closed eyes and open mouth suggest that lack of intelligence accompany her manners and money., Text: Politeness and dress, in this gay world of ours, / Are considered the tests of gentility; / But we commonly find a great lack mind, / Where the're found with so much amiability., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Two tailor's dummies have bustles, wigs and other accessories attached to them. The valentine suggests that these accessories will not help the recipient find love., Text: ‘Tis all in vain your simpering looks, / You never can incline, / With all your bustles, stays, and curls, / To find a Valentine., Text: Lloyd, 17, Bellebury Square, Fleet street, 415, Provenance: Helfand, William H..
A woman wearing a large and elaborate skirt sticks her nose in the air and carries a comically small parasol. The valentine chides her for having an inflated opinion of her own beauty and style., Text: You think, no doubt, you walk with grace, / With bustle of the largest space, / Covered with yards of costly lace. / And every time we chance to meet, / At party, theatre, or street, / You look so very sugar-sweet / But one who wears a dress so / Shall never be a wife of mine, / So seek another Valentine., Provenance: Helfand, William H..
A man stands in a garden smoking a cigarette or cigar. He wears a top hat, glasses, and patterned trousers. He also has a moustache and muttonchops. The valentine chides him for focusing too much on dress and following fads., Text: To be out of fashion is to be out of the world, ‘tis said, / So you adopt the jacket, smoke, and are by fashion led, / In fashion, if you will waste your thread of life, / No Woman of sense, will ever become your Wife., Cf. Valenitne 16.42, Provenance: Helfand, William H..
