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This is a nineteenth-century sentiment card. It appears that the handwritten name--"A. Dinich," as far as I can tell--was originally inscribed in pencil and then written over sometime later in ink, possibly with a ballpoint pen.
The two hands and three chain links at the top of the card are symbols of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The words in the links--"Love, Friendship, Truth"--are the same ones used in the Odd Fellows' motto, although it's usually cited as "Friendship, Love, and Truth."
I'm not sure whether the flags are intended to represent the design of an actual flag. If there are any real flags that have nine stars on a yellow background along with five red and white stripes, I wasn't able to locate them in a quick search.
And, finally, I'm puzzled about the meaning of "Liberty" and the couplet, "May the Wars of Mexico no fears impart, / But try to gain the Lover's heart." Perhaps this is somehow a reference to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), but there have been many other wars involving Mexico. In any case, how do fears of such a war relate to gaining a lover's heart? And what does all that have to do with liberty and the Odd Fellows?
Liberty
May the Wars of Mexico no fears impart,
But try to gain the Lover's heart.
A. Dinich
Love, friendship, truth.
A Victorian-era acquaintance card. For information regarding my book of detachable acquaintance cards, see my Flickr About page. For more examples of this type of card, see my Flickr album of other Acquaintance Cards.
M________.
If the weather is fair on ________
And nothing ill betide,
And I have my [carriage] at your [house]
Will you go with me to ride?
If agreeable, retain this; if not, please return.
Check out my book of detachable acquaintance cards: May I See You Home?: 19th-Century Pickups for 21st-Century Suitors, by Alan Mays.
"May I see you home?"
An acquaintance card printed as a postcard.
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Love, Kisses, and Up-to-Date Hugs
I have no agents, I attend to this work personally.
Give Me A Trial
Sole Proprietor Of Lover's Row. Special Attention To Other People's Friends.
Address Any Old Place. Holding Hands A Specialty.
Hot Air Post Card
Printed on the other side of this unused postcard: Copyright 1907, by E. W. Wilson, post card publisher, 278 B Tremont St., Boston, Mass.
Founded in 1803, N. J. Haibara was a Japanese printing company and paper manufacturer based in Tokyo, as this Victorian-era business card indicates (see my Google-assisted translation below). Today, the firm operates under the name of Haibara Corporation and still manufactures washi and other types of paper.
N. J. Haibara
Vingt recompenses obtenues aux expositions. Maison fondée en 1803.
Eventails, cartes postales illustrée, crans.
Papiers peints, tentures et tapisseries. Dessins imprimés sur la planche. Gravée, lithographié, phototypie.
Cartes de visite. Papiers Ă lettre, enveloppes et cathets Ă papier.
Imagier et marchand de papier.
1 Nihonbasi, TĂ´kiĂ´, Japon.
R. Nakamoura, atelier d'imprimerie, Simonegisi, TĂ´kiĂ´.
N. J. Haibara
Twenty awards obtained at exhibitions. House founded in 1803.
Fans, illustrated postcards, screens.
Wallpapers, wall hangings, and tapestries. Drawings printed on board. Engraving, lithography, collotype.
Visiting cards. Letterheads, envelopes, and cachets for paper.
Image maker and paper merchant.
1 Nihonbasi, Tokyo, Japan.
R. Nakamoura, print shop, Simonegisi, Tokyo.
Originally posted on Ipernity: N. J. Haibara, Tokyo, Japan.
"May I be permitted the blissful pleasure of escorting you home this evening? Yours, __________. Two souls with but a single thought; two hearts that beat as one."
Printed on reverse of card: "No. 100. Escort cards, 50 for 10 cents. (Assorted designs.) Crown Card Co., Columbus, Ohio."
"May I have the pleasure of escorting you home this evening? If so, keep this card. If not, please may I sit on the fence and watch you go by? Strictly confidential."
For similar cards, see Escort Card and May I See You Home?.
Update: This is an acquaintance card dating to the late nineteenth century (circa 1870s-1880s). For information regarding my book of detachable acquaintance cards (published in 2018), see my Flickr About page. For additional examples of this type of card, see my Flickr album of other Acquaintance Cards.
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See Escort Card for a reposting of this card on Tumblr that received a lot of hits (notes) in 2012 and 2013 (or at least it seemed like a lot way back then). Although the current number of hits no longer appears on the Tumblr posting itself, I was able to determine that there were 3,777 notes on it as of Feb. 19, 2020. (Previous tallies: there were 3,743 notes on it as of Jan. 2, 2013; 3,728 notes on Aug. 28, 2012; 3,703 notes on May 30, 2012; 3,616 notes on March 23, 2012; 3,442 notes on Feb. 17, 2012; 3,133 notes as of Jan. 24, 2012; 2,187 as of Jan. 12, 2012; 2,094 as of Jan. 9, 2012; 1,817 as of Jan. 6, 2012; and 1,423 as of Jan. 5, 2012).
An invitation card (also called an acquaintance card) from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
Invitation Card.
Miss:
I very much desire to make your acquaintance. May I have the pleasure of seeing you home this evening? If so, please return the answer; if not, please keep it.
To view the part of the card with the answer, see the rotated version (below).
An unused postcard dated 1907 on the other side. For more amusing items like this, see my album of Acquaintance Cards.
Invitation Card
Come and see our new lamp. You can turn it down so low that there is scarcely any light at all.
P.S. Our sofa just holds two.
"Will U permit me to make your acquaintance without the formality of an introduction? It would not be proper. If you desire it very much."
An acquaintance card dating to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. For information regarding my book of detachable acquaintance cards, see my Flickr About page. For more examples of this type of card, see my Flickr album of other Acquaintance Cards.
"Compliments of John E. Kaughran & Co., Dry Goods. 767 & 769 Broadway, cor. of Ninth St., New York."
This is one of a six-part "Comic Visiting" card series printed by E. Currier & Co., Boston (probably related to the Currier of Currier & Ives but I'm not sure how). Other cards show a woman offering a cracker to a parrot (see below), a man peering through his eyeglasses at an owl, and a baby dangling a cup or something else to get a dog's attention.
For the front and back of another Kaughran advertising trade card, see J. E. Kaughran, New York and John E. Kaughran, Dry Goods, New York (below).
A small Victorian-era greeting card that's about the size of a modern business card. This is a generic "stock card" that could have served as a calling card, advertising trade card, reward of merit, or--as in this case--greeting card, depending on what was printed on it. The colors of the leaves in the illustration, of course, suggest an autumn theme rather than a winter-time Christmas celebration.
"A Happy New Year. 1881. 1880. Enenea R. Stead, Jan. 1st, 1900."
Although originally intended as a New Year greeting in 1881, Enenea R. Stead (if that's the correct name) evidently used this calling card nineteen years later on January 1, 1900.
A unique acquaintance card.
Albert W. Colter
Way down in my heart I've got a feeling for you.
May I see you home this evening.
I don't smoke, chew, drink, tell lies, go with other girls, or break dates. I part my hair in the middle, crease my pants on the side, and shine my shoes in the front.
"I very much desire to make your acquaintance, If agreeable, please return this card, appointing time and place for interview on the other side. Entre nous."
For another version of this Victorian-era acquaintance card with the same illustration and text but with a different border, color, and typeface, see Acquaintance Card—I Very Much Desire to Make Your Acquaintance (below). Entre nous, by the way, is French for "between us," meaning privately or confidentially.
"E pluribus unum. Remember me."
A Victorian-era hidden-name calling card with an illustration of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). The colorful die-cut scrap was a memorial to the president, and it lifts up on the right-hand side to reveal the name of "Mabel E. Emerich" printed underneath.
A postcard addressed on the other side to Clifford White, Oilfields, Cal., and postmarked in Los Angeles, Cal., on July 30, 1910.
Handwritten message on verso: "7/26/10. Don't tell Miss Walker, for she'll murder me. Ha ha! G.A.S."
For another version with an earlier date of 1907, see Invitation Card—Come and See Our New Lamp. See also an undated third version: Invitation Card—Come and See Our New Lamp.
For other similar cards, see my album of Acquaintance Cards.
Come and See Our New Lamp
You can turn it down so low that there is scarcely any light at all. P.S. Our sofa just holds two.
2062. Allied Printing Trades Council, Union Label, San Francisco, 2.
Printed on the other side: "Published by Cardinell-Vincent Co. 579 Market St., San Francisco. 616 So. Broadway, Los Angeles."
Wanted
By a member of the Anti-Poke-Your-Nose-Into-Other-People's-Business Society, a person at a salary of $500 a year, with a periodical increase to $1,000, to mind their own business and let other people's business alone.
"I very much desire to make your acquaintance. If agreeable, please return this card, appointing time and place for interview on the other side. Entre nous."
For another version of this card, see Acquaintance Card—I Very Much Desire to Make Your Acquaintance.
Check out my book of detachable acquaintance cards: May I See You Home?: 19th-Century Pickups for 21st-Century Suitors, by Alan Mays.
This is an acquaintance card—also called an escort, invitation, or flirtation card—that dates to the nineteenth century.
Notice how the illustrations parallel the text on the card and suggest how a courting couple should behave—a formal greeting and a tip of the hat in the parlor, the man as the "proud bird" who escorts the woman down the street, the woman ignoring the "forlorn chap" on the fence as she walks home from church, and a loving embrace at home under the watchful eye of cupid.
For another version of this card, see May I Become the Proud Bird Who Shall Accompany You? For other cards, see my album of Acquaintance Cards.
Fair One:
Gaze on this picture, then on that. Shall I be the proud bird who escorts you home tonight or the forlorn chap who sits on the fence and sees you go by?
Yours Truly, ________
Escort Card, 30 for 10 cts.
A Victorian-era calling card for "C. Bowser" with an illustration of a canal scene, including boats pulled by horses or mules, a canal lock, and a lock keeper's house.
A calling card for "H. E. Grothe" with attached photo. I purchased this from a dealer in Seattle, Washington, who obtained it along with other calling cards (without photographs) from an estate sale in Idaho.
For other photo calling cards, see:
A Victorian-era calling card for "Mr. E. H. White" along with his photograph, which looks like it may have been copied from a CDV. Anyone recognize the typeface?
For similar cards, see my album of Calling Cards with Photographs.
What looks like a calling card for D. B. Landis on the front (above) turns out to be an advertising trade card on the back (see below).
David Bachman Landis (1862-1940) operated Pluck Art Printery, a letterpress print shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but he started out as a printer in his hometown of Landisville, which is located about eight miles from Lancaster.
For the other side of this card, see The Village Vigil, Landisville, Pa., 1883 (below).
"W. H. Dutcher of New York City, the Great Roller Skate Contortionist, is open for dates and can be engaged by responsible managers. W. F. Orr, manager, North Adams, Mass."
A nineteenth-century business card for a "roller skate contortionist" named W. H. Dutcher. Wikipedia mentions a Carola Trier who performed as a "roller-skating contortionist" in the 1940s or 1950s, and the Richmond Dispatch newspaper, October 27, 1885, p. 2, contained an ad for the Richmond Skating School, which sponsored an appearance by "H. H. Golden, Champion Roller-Skate Contortionist."
The only contortionist I've heard about previously was a stationary one--see Knoto (below).
A business card for "T. P. Lint,"* an advertisement for his penman services, and a demonstration of his lettering and flourishing skills.
*Coincidentally, this name sounds to modern ears like a term for the fluffy bits left over from a roll of toilet paper. 8-)
I have not been able to determine who Emmett A. Thomas was or why his head was superimposed on the body of a mosquito. Some kind of New Jersey joke perhaps?
"Your coral lips were made to kiss, I stoutly will maintain; and dare you say my lovely miss, that aught was made in vain? Yours truly, please answer."
"No. 252. With name 20 for 10 cents. (Assorted designs.) Crown Card Co., Columbus, O."
See also Your Beau I Wish to Be, This Card I Therefore Send and I Learned the Verb "Love" at School.
The verb "I love" I learnt at school,
"Thou love," next in rule:
"We love" let us say together,
Proving thus we love each other.
Yours truly, please answer,
Charles Kline
An acquaintance card with a convoluted poem based on a verb conjugation--I love, thou love, we love. For other cards that use the same illustration and similar rhyming sentiments, see Your Coral Lips Were Made to Kiss, I Stoutly will Maintain and Your Beau I Wish to Be, This Card I Therefore Send. For additional cards, see my Acquaintance Cards album.
"Jesse Bingman. I think of thee."
A late nineteenth-century calling card for Jesse Bingman (1873-1951).
Typeface: Centennial Script ("Jesse Bingman").
"Photo Visiting Card, 12 for 25 cts."
A Victorian-era sample calling card with pasted-on photograph.
Originally posted on Ipernity: Photo Visiting Card, 12 for 25 Cents.
"25 Firemans Cards, 20 cts."
A card pasted in an "Agent's Sample Book" that was issued by an unidentified calling card company.
For other firemen's calling cards, see C. H. Moscrip, H. G. Phelps Hose Company No. 1, Sidney, N.Y., Eugene O. Chase, Second Leading Hoseman, Danielsonville, Conn., and Fireman Calling Card.
Originally posted on Ipernity: Fireman's Card.
A humorous nineteenth-century acquaintance card.
Dear Miss:
I will risk everything depicted here if you will permit me to see you as far as the gate.
Yours very truly,
A poetic acquaintance or escort card. For additional examples, see my album of Acquaintance Cards.
Typeface: Centennial Script (Complimentary). (Thanks to Florian Hardwig for identifying the typeface.)
Complimentary
I cannot sit astride the fence
To watch you pass along;
It might work well in summer time,
But winter spoils the song.
Please will you let me see you home,
From church next Sunday night?
Don't mind what other people say,
Perchance you think it right.
Miss Smith,
Your beau I wish to be,
This card I therefore send,
Please answer quick to me,
Will you be my friend?
Yours truly, please answer,
Alice Ramsey
See also Your Coral Lips Were Made to Kiss, I Stoutly will Maintain and I Learned the Verb "Love" at School.
An unused postcard with no date or message on the other side. For similar cards, see my album of Acquaintance Cards.
Typeface: Crayonette (Invitation Card)
Invitation Card
Come and see our new lamp. You can turn it down so low that there is scarcely any light at all.
P.S. Our sofa just holds two.
"Dear Miss: I'm just your size and complexion, I'm going in your direction. So, if you have no objection, I'd like to be your protection. P.W.S."
This is the only card I've come across that has a name printed on one side (like a calling card) and a "let's get acquainted" message (like an acquaintance card) on the other side.
"Acquaintance compliments with confidence & respect. Can I have the pleasure of your company this evening? If so, keep this card; if not, please return it. O. G. Pfleogor."
An acquaintance card illustrating how to use an acquaintance card.
Dear Miss: You are sensible and good,
And have all the charms of womanhood;
Your eyes resemble the stars above you;
I shall be miserable if I can't love you.
Sample sheet showing the variety of calling cards, rewards of merit, and other printed items available in 1886 from the Connecticut Steam Card Works, Hartford, Conn.
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For the front of this sample sheet, see the following:
entire sample sheet (above)
See also Explanation of Hidden Name Calling Cards for an excerpt from the reverse side of this sample sheet.