Free Printable Vintage Valentines (2024)

Published Feb 6, 2024 · By Anna Chesley · Leave a Comment

Going for a vintage vibe this Valentines day? These free printable vintage valentines look amazing when printed on card stock! Here are a dozen of the sweetest vintage valentines, all in the public domain so they're free to print and use!

We're embracing the Valentine's season early in our house this year. It started last week when we took down the Christmas tree and my tender-hearted little 3 year old went into some serious mourning over it.

He loved that tree, and the "holiday-ness" it brought into the house. After nearly an hour of pressing his little nose to the window for a glimpse of where it awaits the early-spring brush pile, and even running outside to visit it, the one thing that finally helped soothe his sadness was the promise that the next holiday is coming soon. Which it honestly really is!

We sat down and started cutting out some paper hearts, while I told him stories about his great-grandmother, who loved all holidays and started celebrating them just as soon as the last one ended.

A smile came out, and both kids wanted to know more about Great-Grammie, and Valentine's Day. Most of all, they wanted to know, "what fun things are we going to do and make?"

I hadn't really thought that through yet, but clearly, at the top of the list, should be making and sending valentines.

So later that night I got my hustle on, and started looking for inspiration from valentines of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Holy moly, was that an era that knew how to do Valentines day!

I swooned over one adorable valentine after another in the digital collections of various libraries. There are so many beautiful valentine images out there that are now in the public domain, which makes them free for anyone to use!

Then I found the Raphael Tuck collection. Search over.

Raphael Tuck & Sons was the world's largest postcard publisher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Now defunct, their collection of charming postcard images is stewarded by a non-profit, TuckDB. According to their website:

The images on TuckDB Ephemera and TuckDB Postcards are of items / postcards created before 1928 putting them in the public domain. You are free to use them as you see fit. We request that you attribute your use of TuckDB's images but it is not required by law.

I think that's the sweetest thing! Every one of the images here in this post is courtesy of TuckDB.com. If you have a bit of time, you can follow this link to peruse all 532 images in their "Valentine" category, and each image can be download in a high enough resolution to print your own cards very nicely.

Or, use one of these 12 printable vintage valentines that I've edited to print perfectly in a 4x6" size. These are some of my favorite images from the TuckDB collection, and I'm using all 12 of them for sending to family and friends this year. If you click on any of these images in the gallery below, you'll be taken to the full resolution print-quality pdf, which you can download.

Aren't they adorable? While the black and white images may not immediately jump out at you, they look amazing when printed on watercolor postcards! You can then use watercolors to add your own flair to these delightful images, making your valentines even more personalized.

It's like a grown-up vintage version of those coloring-card valentines they make for kids!

If you do paint some of your own, please feel free to snap a photo and email it to me - I'll add it to this post (with your name of course) as inspiration for others!

I hope you enjoy working with these delightful old valentines as much as we are! For more public domain Valentine images, check out these vintage valentines from the British Library!

Happy Valentines Day, my friends!

Anna Chesley

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Anna Chesley is a freelance writer living a homestead lifestyle, with a special love for family travel, old books, vintage skills, and seaside living. In addition to founding Salt In My Coffee, she runs the website, New England Family Life, as well as The 1800's Housewife, a website devoted to re-creating authentic 1800's recipes.

Free Printable Vintage Valentines (2024)

FAQs

Where can you find the oldest Valentine's Day card on display? ›

York Castle Museum in York, England has in their collection what is believed to be the oldest printed Valentine's Day card in existence.

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Are antique valentines worth anything? ›

These cards were very popular throughout the U.S. during the period from 1900 to the end of the 1920s. Today, some of these surviving mechanical cards are worth thousands of dollars apiece as collectables. Others can be found in antique shops and online markets like eBay and Etsy for under $50.

Tell Me More ›

What is the oldest known Valentine still in existence today? ›

The oldest known Valentine still exists today as a poem written by Charles Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting that was written in 1415 is part of the manuscript collection at the British Library in London.

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What is the most gifted item on Valentine's day? ›

1. Valentine's Day cards. Although cards are usually given in combination with other gifts like flowers or chocolates, more than 52% of consumers will present their loved one with a Valentine's Day card. You can score some extra points by personalising your card with a photo or heartfelt poem.

How can I make a Valentine's card online for free? ›

Create a new Canva account to get started with your own funny Valentine's Day card design.

Choose from our library of professionally created templates.
Upload your own photos or choose from over 1 million stock images.
Fix your images, add stunning filters and edit text.
Save and share.

When was the oldest Valentine card made? ›

Valentine's Day cards can be traced back to the 15th century, when the earliest known Valentine's Day letter was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

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When and where were the first Valentine's cards made? ›

The first commercial valentines appeared in England at the very end of the 18th century. These “mechanical” valentines were printed, engraved, or made from woodcuts and sometimes colored by hand. They combined traditional symbols of love—flowers, hearts, cupids, birds—with doggerel verse of the “roses are red” variety.

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How many Valentine's day cards are there? ›

Americans send 145 million Valentine's Day cards each year. According to Hallmark, a whopping 145 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged every February 14 (and that's not even including all those kids' valentines exchanged in classrooms!).

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How many died in the St. Valentine's day massacre? ›

At 10:30 in the morning on Saint Valentine's Day, Thursday, February 14, 1929, seven men were murdered at the garage at 2122 North Clark Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago's North Side. They were shot by four men using weapons that included two Thompson submachine guns.