Delicacy is a great virtue..

It matters not, for there is very little of it to be found around this chaotic breakfast
scene on the morning of Saint Valentine.

Captured in this cartoon is Tootsie, the lovely daughter of Ally Sloper, admiring the gift of
silk stockings. Her father, a kind but eccentric figure, appears rather upset by the
comic Valentine he has just received which seems to be alluding to the excessive
indulgence of his favourite beverage.

"Yes, dear, we all got them, and mine were beautiful - a pair of French grey, pure silk. Mum and my miserable Father didn't seemed too pleased with their Valentines, but how can you satisfy everyone? I often think there is a great deal to admire and uphold in these good old-fashioned customs."
— Tootsie.

• Above
• Cartoon by William Giles Baxter from Ally Sloper's Half Holiday
• circa 1880s
• 292 x 241mm (11½ x 9½in)
•  
• Alexander “Ally” Sloper is the madcap character who first appeared in
  British illustrated papers in the Victorian era and is acknowledged as one
  of the earliest fictional comic strip characters.
•  

Go to Victorian Lace-Paper Valentines

• Victorian Albums
• Victorian Scraps
• Father Tuck's Complete Picture Maker

• Lace-Paper Valentines
• Comic Valentines

• Easter Frolics
• In Fairyland

• A Victorian Christmas
• A Christmas Menagerie

• The Calendar
• Reward of Merit
• The English Lotteries

• Victorian Greeting Card Publishers

Copyright © 2021 Malcolm Warrington. All Rights Reserved.