receive a engagement in Victorian times was a trivial more complicated than set up a visibility and swiping mightily . Etiquettedictated when and how people should be inclose , when they could be visited , and what was appropriate behavior for an unmarried couple . For the more audacious untried gentleman , there were acquaintance card — the nineteenth century eq of “ hey , girl , can I have your number ? ” You know , for the time before phones .
These overtly coquettish calling carte du jour used in America in the 1870s and 1880s “ were give out by young mankind who wait outside after church or terpsichore , hoping to see a sure person home , ” according to a1992 bookby the women ’s lifestyle magazineVictoria .
“ Flirtatious and fun , the acquaintance card take levity to what otherwise might have seemed a more conventional proposal , ” intriguer Maurice Rickards writes in his bookThe Encyclopedia of Ephemera . “ A common means of introduction , it was never taken too seriously . ” One Boston company sold the tawdry trinket cards at 1000 cards for $ 1.35 ; another , in Ohio , sold 20 personalized card for 10 cents .
In the modern era , some of these quips would be a serious rationality to call the police . For ye olden days , they were pretty salacious , as a set of acquaintance batting order put on-line bycollector Alan Maysshows .
Some samples of the prim strait-laced version of street molestation :
While some were cultured , others point that refusal was n’t extend to be taken well by the suitor . “ May I have the delight of escorting you home this even ? If so , keep this calling card . If not , please may I sit on the fence and see you go by ? ” one reads . Another fluctuation : “ May I see you home ? Or will I have to lay on the fence and look on you meander by ? ”
Cheeky titles and boldly intimate overtures reign .
One number the bearer as a “ kissing rogue , ” with a out of bounds business concern in hugging ; another purports that a man is a “ ragtime millionaire . ” “ Love made on short posting , ” one declares .
Some flirtation cards were straight - up poetic . “ Fair Lady : may I become the proud razz who shall accompany you to your leafy bower , ” one ask ( see top double ) , “ or must I lose the wretchedness of seeing you borne away in triumph by that individual whose chromotintype appears at the right . ” On the rightfulness of the bill of fare is an illustration of a Equus asinus . Another register : “ Your coral sass were made to kiss , I stoutly will maintain ; and dare you say my lovely miss , that aught was made in vain ? ”
Manyprove cheesiness is timeless when it comes to break up - up line : “ Come see our Modern lamp . you could turn it down so low that there is scarcely any light at all , ” a peculiarly creepy one read . “ P.S. Our couch just hold two . ” Mmm , yes , tempting offer there .
Often they admit an alternative to decline , sort of like a middle school day sexual love billet . “ May I.C.U. Home ? ” one wonder , with an option for “ Yes ! ” and “ No ! ” on either side of the small card . ( presumptively you did n’t in reality have to check one off and hand it back to the dude , but nice that the choice to say no existed . )
And of course of instruction , nothing declares your affections for a lady like subtle hint of misogynism and bitterness . “ Should we ever be marry , promise me / You will never leave your mark on me , ” read a notice displaying a man with a bruised and bound head . Another is replete with poesy decry a lady who , after a man “ bought her candy , nut , and clothes , / took her to all the circus shows , ” still ran away with another homo . The nerve !
give thanks god we can just sext now . Peruse the full aggregation over onFlickr .
[ h / t : Boing Boing ]
All images viaFlickrcourtesy Alan Mays .
