Details
JOSEPH MANSELL
An elaborately embossed and pierced paperlace valentine card stamp marked Mansell, the centre applied with a pierced paperlace envelope, sealed with a hand-coloured rose, containing a 3pp. manuscript letter reading 'Fairest and Dearest, This letter brings to you, enveloped in its folds, a smile as bright as/the hope of possessing you must give to mortal -- a sign warm from the/heart that beats for you ever -- a Kiss fond as ever a lover impressed/upon the eyelids which curtain the light of his soul. Return the smile/accept the sigh, and keep the Kiss until you can return it safely to the lips of your own/Valentine', continuing with a poem, 10 x 8in., c. 1840-60; with contemporary cameo embossed envelope, with a wax seal in the form of a heart, 10½ x 8¼in.
An elaborately embossed and pierced paperlace valentine card stamp marked Mansell, the centre applied with a pierced paperlace envelope, sealed with a hand-coloured rose, containing a 3pp. manuscript letter reading 'Fairest and Dearest, This letter brings to you, enveloped in its folds, a smile as bright as/the hope of possessing you must give to mortal -- a sign warm from the/heart that beats for you ever -- a Kiss fond as ever a lover impressed/upon the eyelids which curtain the light of his soul. Return the smile/accept the sigh, and keep the Kiss until you can return it safely to the lips of your own/Valentine', continuing with a poem, 10 x 8in., c. 1840-60; with contemporary cameo embossed envelope, with a wax seal in the form of a heart, 10½ x 8¼in.