East Riding Museums

James Valentine was a photographer from the 1850's, creating a copmany called James Valentine & Sons Ltd. He produced Christmas cards from 1880 and picture postcards from 1896 (the firm employed 1000 workers at this time). Initially these were Scottish views, but later the company expanded to England & Wales and even had branches abroad. Often negatives were altered, with features being added or removed so that several variations on the same scene were produced. Some cards marked "Valentine & Sons Ltd" and/or 'Valentine Series'. The business was taken over by John Waddington & Co. in the 1960's and later by Hallmark Cards. The original Dundee factory closed in 1994. St. Andrews University library has a large collection of Valentine cards.