The tradition of sending and receiving Valentine’s Day cards is well documented in The British Newspaper Archive, but not all were as sentimental as you might expect.

We’ve found a number of references in our historical newspapers to the unusual Valentines that were exchanged. Here’s a selection of the best for you to enjoy.

1) I saw you kiss the office boy

This little rhyme about an office romance was included in the Nottingham Evening Post in 1903:

2) With coals at the price they are

The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that one Victorian took the opportunity to complain about the cost of heating:

3) Dirty, fat, and greasy

The Dundee Courier printed this delightful caricature and rhyme about Butchers on Valentine’s Day in 1916:

4) My Heart’s at your feet

The Gloucester Citizen scoffed at a card featuring this terrible football pun in 1925:

5) I’ll sweep the mat and feed the catThe Dundee Courier included this Valentine’s rhyme, which they suggested ‘should please even practical Miss 1930’:

6) One for the Minister of Transport

This Valentine’s Day card ‘for the Minister of Transport’ was included in the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1936:

7) If plough and cart can please your heart

This rhyme entitled ‘from a Farmer to his Valentine’ was printed in the Dundee Courier in 1907:

8) I wanna grab you

The Derby Daily Telegraph reported that ‘the very newest American version’ of Valentine’s Day cards had been sent in 1929:

9) You are by nature a bird of prey

This delightful rhyme about a ‘husband hunter’ was included in the Dundee Courier in 1916:

10) I wish to rhyme a little maid

The final Valentine we’ve found is a charming note from a father to his one-year-old daughter, published in the Dundee Evening Telegraph in 1912:

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