Back to photostream

May I Become the Proud Bird Who Shall Accompany You?

Escort Card

 

Fair Lady: May I become the proud bird who shall accompany you to your leafy bower, or must I suffer the misery of seeing you borne away in triumph by the individual whose chromo tintype appears at the right.

 

"Gaze on this picture, then on that."--Hamlet.

 

A Victorian-era acquaintance card with amusingly convoluted language. These cards--also called escort, flirtation, or invitation cards--provided a humorous way for a young man to make the acquaintance of a young woman. For additional examples, see my Acquaintance Cards set.

 

My acquaintance cards were recently featured in the following blog postings: The 19th Century Escort Cards with Pick-Up Lines You Definitely Haven’t Heard Before on Messy Nessy Chic and 19th Century Acquaintance Cards Were the Pick-Up Lines of a Lost Age on Neatarama.

 

And last year, the Art of Manliness also posted a selection of my cards: May I See You Home? 19th Century Calling Cards Guaranteed to Score You a Date.

 

Originally posted on Ipernity: May I Become the Proud Bird Who Shall Accompany You?

33,732 views
38 faves
5 comments
Uploaded on July 31, 2015
Taken on April 21, 2015