By Lynn Ann Collins

Texting a love letter may be the quickest and easiest way to your beloved’s heart, but certainly not the most romantic.

After all, old-fashioned romance is what Valentine’s Day is all about. Few momentos stir romantic emotions as effectively as antique valentine cards, but once upon a time even they were just a new trend in communicating like the Smart Phones of today.

It may seem a little cold-hearted, but our popular tradition of sending valentines had much to do with the advent of the U.S. “Pony Express” postal service and the development of the assembly line.

The creation of a speedier postal service led to the increase in demand for cards. According to well-known antiquarian bookseller and owner of Boston’s Brattle Book Shop, Kenneth Gloss, in the 1840’s an ingenious Worcester woman, Esther Howland, saw that this demand had romantic possibilities. Howland was the first person to mass-produce valentines using an assembly-line method.

“Her idea was a huge success,” said Gloss. “She had several women stand in line and each woman would add a different piece, starting with the lace, the picture, the gold leaf and the verse, pasted on a different card.”

Soon after that, valentines became more complex and colorful. Around the turn of the century, foldouts, fans and lavishly decorated valentines emerged.

All are collectable today, “Around this time of year we get many requests for antique valentines,” says Gloss. “They’re romantic and they are collectable. They show imagination.”

Antique valentines appeal to reason as well as to the heart, costing between $5 and $50 each.

In the first decade of the 20th century, valentine postcards were the thing. A popular postcard artist of the time was Ellen Clapsaddle. Her works are now sought after by collectors.

In the 1920s valentines with movable parts were the rage.

One of the first commercial cards made in this country featured a woman in a purple dress framed by gold leaf and white lace. It would sell for about $100 today, Gloss estimates.  It seems the value of love doth increase with time.

Gloss, too, puts his heart into his business when he searches for valuable books, magazines, cards, historical documents and other collectible items for the Brattle Book Shop.

Most of the valentines he finds come from estate sales where he is called in to buy and appraise old books. He also weeds through cartons and scrapbooks at flea markets and auctions.

Among the valentines that Gloss has culled are other unusual items such as a sales brochure advertising a cruise on the Titanic, a scorecard for the fifth game of he 1912 World Series when the Red Sox won and a signed photograph of Houdini bearing the inscription, “My brain is the key that sets me free.”

It seems that memorabilia from the eras less bustling and more romantic than ours hold much inspiration for today’s generations.  If you do send a romantic thought, select an antique valentine the “old-fashioned” way, by what we now call “snail-mail.” Don’t text it.  It will be appreciated and kept for future generations.

Gloss is well known to viewers of PBS’ Antiques Roadshow where he’s appeared on numerous occasions appraising old books, magazines, autographed letters and other unique literary works as well as valentines. The Brattle Book Shop is located at 9 West Street in the Downtown Crossing section of Boston and can be reached at 800-447-9595 or by e-mail at info@brattlebookshop.com. A list of his free and open lectures as well as other pertinent info can be found on their web at www.brattlebookshop.com.

Lynn Ann Collins is a freelance writer based in Somerville.