Romantic Historical Images

The images below were scanned from our private collection of antique ephemera.
You're welcome to share them with friends and re-post them for your own private projects free of charge, but please remember to include a citation link to this website, www.thisvictorianlife.com
It takes a significant amount of time as well as money to find, procure and scan the originals of the images which are offered here free for your enjoyment.   Please show your support of all our hard work by telling your friends about Sarah's books (and by buying them yourself, too, of course!)

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Thank you very much - and enjoy!  

Illustration from "Black and White" magazine, August 15, 1896, p.211.

A valentine from the Columbia bicycle and tricycle company, circa 1880s.

To see more historical images, check out these pages on our website:
Animals
Athletes
Children
Clothes advertisements—also see Corset advertisements, Fashion plates
Comics
Corset advertisements
Cycling
Dining
Fashion Plates
Flowers
Food
Health and Beauty Products
Holidays
Kitchens and kitchen tools
Men and Women, illustrations
Misc.
Photo of children
Photos of couples and families
Photos of groups
Photos of maids
Photos of men
Photos of nurses
Photos of women
Romantic images
Seasonal illustrations
Servants
Sheet music
Trade cards

Love's Messenger
A Choice Collection of 
Victorian Love Poetry
The verses embraced within these pages have been kissed awake after a long slumber.  Copied from the fragile pages of nineteenth-century books and magazines, they are the whispers of lovers long entranced.  In this beautifully diverse collection of Victorian love poetry high-born ladies and their eloquent beaux keep company with simple maids whose sweethearts pledge their love in simpler —and often much funnier— terms.  Prepare for your happy sighs to be joined by occasional giggles while you hold this book close to your heart.
 
Compiled, edited and introduced by Sarah A. Chrisman, author of the charming Tales of Chetzemoka historical fiction series, This Victorian Life, Victorian Secrets, and others.

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​Historical Fiction
​In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing.  In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into.  Join their adventures in

The Tales of Chetzemoka

First Wheel in Town:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance​​
In the summer of 1881, a Pacific Northwest town is buzzing with curiosity over a mysterious package received by handsome young Dr. Brown. Kitty Butler, the town dressmaker, is as curious as anyone else. She only knows one thing about that crate in the post office: everyone else's guesses about its contents are all wrong. 

When Dr. Brown unpacks the crate and reveals the first bicycle the town has ever seen, he wants to share his enthusiasm for this revolutionary new piece of technology —but encounters overwhelming hostility instead of the excitement he'd expected. The only one who seems positively interested is the pretty young widow Kitty Butler, and Dr. Brown soon realizes how much he needs her support…
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​Learn more​​​ 

Love Will Find A Wheel:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance

            "I'm sure he'll be glad you're here —once he gets used to it." 
            When Jacob Simmons arrives in Washington Territory in the summer of 1882 and receives a glacial reception from his uncle Silas, he appreciates Dr. Brown's encouraging prediction but doesn't have much faith in it.  Jacob's not even sure Silas will have time to get used to his presence, let alone consider him welcome.  If the young man can't meet the draconian requirements of a contract with his business investors, he'll face exile and financial ruin, thus fulfilling old Silas' prediction that he would be just as dismal a failure as his father.  His whole future rests on finding a market for a remarkable new machine —and he'll need help selling them.
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            Addie Kellam is an incredibly lonely young woman.  She's more comfortable with books than with other people, yet she longs for the sort of romance she reads about in stories.  It's something she fears she'll never experience herself, since even friendship seems elusive.  She envies the cameraderie her brother finds in his cycling club, but the only bicycles in the town of Chetzemoka are specifically designed for men.  There aren't any wheels for women anywhere —are there?
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A Rapping At The Door:
A Victorian Cycling Club Suspense Story

         When the delivery of a mysterious letter to Silas Hayes' mansion is followed by the arrival of a beautiful young woman who claims she can communicate with the dead, Nurse McCoy sniffs trouble in the wind. It's obvious to her that the newcomer is after Silas' fortune, but he is helplessly in awe of the medium's eerily intimate knowledge of his past and her seemingly supernatural abilities. Meanwhile, Kitty Brown's yearning to reach out to the departed spirit of her first love is making her push away her new husband, just when she needs him the most. The whole situation is a dreadful mess, and McCoy's got to straighten it all out before Silas' nephew and his bride come back from their honeymoon. Honestly, she doesn't know how any of the fools in this world would get along without her…
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Delivery Delayed:
A Victorian Cycling Club Romance

It's obvious to everyone in the Chetzemoka cycling club that Lizzie and Isaac could make each other very happy —but does anyone really listen to their friends about affairs of the heart?  A prim schoolmarm and a stoic steamship captain are hardly the people to discuss their sentiments, especially with each other.  The smallest challenges seem like huge obstacles, even with everyone else trying their best to bring them together.  When progress finally seems possible, a well-intentioned little girl steps in with the kind of help they'd be better off without.  Will the situation be resolved in time, or will Isaac ship out for good?
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Learn more

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The Wheelman's Joy
Victorian Cycling Poetry and Words About Wheels

Quotations of Quality
A Commonplace Book of Victorian Advice, Wit, and Observations on Life

True Ladies
and 
Proper Gentlemen:
Victorian Etiquette...

Victorian Secrets: 
What A Corset Taught Me About the Past, the Present, and Myself
(Non-fiction)

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This
​Victorian Life
(Non-fiction)

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