The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained — Handkerchief and Fan Flirtations
Several days ago, I came across The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained by Henry J Wehman, published in 1890. This hilarious book includes guides for “popping” the question and writing love letters, as well as how to “manage” a beau to make him propose marriage.
Today, we will learn the subtle art of handkerchief and fan flirtation. To get us in the romantic mood, I have included several lovely illustrations from Cassell’s Family Magazine, 1886.
Now go practice your newly acquired fan and handkerchief skills on someone you love. If they don’t understand, put on some lingerie and try again.
And now some advertisements (from Hearst’s International, 1906)
Check back next week to learn the details of hat and parasol flirtations.
The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained — How to Write Victorian Love Letters So, you sit with a pen in your hand and a blank Valentine’s Day card before you. But you just can’t think of those special words to express your true feelings for your beloved. Have no fear, The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained, 189o has come to your rescue....
Victorian Window Signaling, Hat Flirtations, Love Letters and More Gentle readers, oh horror! I’ve run out of passages that I want to excerpt from The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained by Henry J Wehman, published in 1890! I adore this book, so I’m feeling a bit sad. *Sniffs and dabs eyes with lacy handkerchief * Once again, I’m overzealous...
Secret Flirtations at the Dinner Table and More Victorian Love Letters It was an overcast day, and I was in a bad mood. All morning, I sat and stared at my computer screen with no creative inspiration, no burning desire. My mind was dull, dull, dull. Then I realized what was wrong: I hadn’t posted in months from The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained by...
A Collection of Victorian Flirtations The holiday season has arrived! We must make sure that we observe proper postage stamp flirtation when we send out our holiday greeting cards or that we know how to use our fork and knife to tell that special Victorian gentleman at our dining table that we want to meet...
Nancy Mayer explains Regency Marriage Laws and How to Dissolve a Regency Marriage. This is an excerpt from an article by Nancy Mayer. You can read the entirety of it on her website The Regency Researcher. As many of you know, I’m her web mistress. After March 25, 1754, when the Hardwicke Act for the Prevention of Clandestine Marriages went into effect, couples marrying...
More Victorian Love Letters and the Basics of Postage Stamp Flirtation It’s been two long weeks since I last posted an excerpt from The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained by Henry J Wehman. I feel a sadness in my heart that only a love letter from Mr. Wehman can … Continue reading →...
Your Constant, Faithful, and Affectionate True Love – Victorian Love Letters My Dearest Reader—Do you sit glumly at your writing desk, your quill poised as you stare at your blank Valentine’s Day card? Do you not possess the flowery prose to express your ardent, undying, and very proper love for another? Never fear! The Parlour Letter-writer And Secretary’s Assistant, published in...
11 Replies to “The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained — Handkerchief and Fan Flirtations”
Love the ads.
The code of the handkerchief is pretty much the same as the old code of the fan. Fans had become passee so ladies turned to the handkerchief as a prop for flirtation.
Great posts.
Nancy
oops . didn’t see the fan instructions before.
My aunt had a Victrola that looked just like the one in the ad . She would bring it out onto the porch and we would play the records on hot summer evenings and watch the lightning bugs dance to the tunes. It was many years after the ads, I hasten to say.
@Nancy,
Wow. What you describe is a lovely image. Those old Southern porches…love them! I have my aunt’s Victrola in my dining room. We love to play the old warbly records. Such a neat sound…
It’s a bit like baseball code for C19 Romance. Tricky too if you remembered it incorrectly.
I would have been an abject failure at this — I would have gotten my left and right mixed up, my north and south too, and propositioned the pastor or something. And since I don’t see a gesture for “didn’t mean it — do over!” I would have been sunk in scandal almost immediately.
Love the ads.
The code of the handkerchief is pretty much the same as the old code of the fan. Fans had become passee so ladies turned to the handkerchief as a prop for flirtation.
Great posts.
Nancy
oops . didn’t see the fan instructions before.
My aunt had a Victrola that looked just like the one in the ad . She would bring it out onto the porch and we would play the records on hot summer evenings and watch the lightning bugs dance to the tunes. It was many years after the ads, I hasten to say.
@Nancy,
Wow. What you describe is a lovely image. Those old Southern porches…love them! I have my aunt’s Victrola in my dining room. We love to play the old warbly records. Such a neat sound…
It’s a bit like baseball code for C19 Romance. Tricky too if you remembered it incorrectly.
I would have been an abject failure at this — I would have gotten my left and right mixed up, my north and south too, and propositioned the pastor or something. And since I don’t see a gesture for “didn’t mean it — do over!” I would have been sunk in scandal almost immediately.
@Tina. hahaha…the do over gesture!!
I’d like to share this with the Gail Carriger Facebook page. Any objection?
Not a problem!