17 FEBRUARY 1877, Page 24

Valentines. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—Among the elaborate and fanciful devices

that at this season express, or gracefully insinuate, the annual de- votion of innumerable votaries at the shrine of St. Valentine, few, if any, exceed those of Marcus Ward and Co. in beauty, variety, and tasteful- ness. The quaint figures framed, like old Byzantine pictures, in A golden background, so associated with the name of Marcus Ward, are mixed with groups and wreaths of flowers so naturally drawn and coloured as to excite genuine admiration. Those in which the flowers are thrown down upon a black ground are especially pretty. Some anemones are admirably true to nature. There is not one of the minor branches of art which has more improved in the course of the last few years than the designing and colouring of Valentines.