“The verse on the outside edges around the large red heart on the Puzzle Purse Love Token, c. 1790 reads: My Dear the heart which you behold
Will break when you the same unfold
Even so my heart with love sick pain
Sure wounded is and breaks in twain
On the other side of the folded paper, the maker of this token promises, ‘In this inside sweet Turtle Dove/ I’ve wrote a moral of my love. . .’ But to read further, one must unfold the flaps,
‘breaking’ the central heart but also laying bare its secrets: more verses and hearts! The verses at the edges of the page are coordinated with the drawings:
‘My dearest dear and blest divine
I’ve pictured here thy heart and mine
But Cupid with his fatal dart
hath deeply wounded my poor heart
And has betwixt us set a cross
Which makes me lament my loss
But now I hope when this is gone
That our two hearts will join in one.’
The heart at the top of the page is pierced with an arrow, cupid’s ‘fatal dart’, while the two large V shapes on left and right form an X or ‘cross’ when the paper is partially folded. The heart at the bottom can be read as two hearts in one, a blue one and a red one.
Folded Puzzle Purse Valentine, c. 1800 show a little more clearly the layers of text and image of these folded ‘puzzles’. The front flaps are worn enough to make the verses difficult to make out, but they are definitely different from the first example. The quadrants of the large central heart are numbered to make sure that the verses on the next layer are revealed and read in the correct order. When that heart is ‘broken,’ the next layer revealed looks like a pinwheel.
The verses on the edges of the triangular flaps are very similar to the middle set of verses in the previous example:
My Dearest Dear and blest divine
I’ve pictur’d here your heart and mine.
But Cupid with his Cruel dart
Has deeply pierc’d my tender heart
And has between us set A Cross
Which makes me to lament my loss
But I’m in hopes when that is gone
That both our hearts will be in one
However, the drawings match the verses in quite different ways, using paired hearts: the first pair of hearts are set side by side (‘your heart and mine’), the second pair include one pierced by cupid’s ‘cruel dart’ the third is separated by a cross, and the fourth are linked ‘in one’.” From [Her Reputation for Accomplishment](https://herreputationforaccomplishment.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/three-love-tokens-for-valentines-day/)
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“The verse on the outside edges around the large red heart on the Puzzle Purse Love Token, c. 1790 reads: My Dear the heart which you behold
Will break when you the same unfold
Even so my heart with love sick pain
Sure wounded is and breaks in twain
On the other side of the folded paper, the maker of this token promises, ‘In this inside sweet Turtle Dove/ I’ve wrote a moral of my love. . .’ But to read further, one must unfold the flaps,
‘breaking’ the central heart but also laying bare its secrets: more verses and hearts! The verses at the edges of the page are coordinated with the drawings:
‘My dearest dear and blest divine
I’ve pictured here thy heart and mine
But Cupid with his fatal dart
hath deeply wounded my poor heart
And has betwixt us set a cross
Which makes me lament my loss
But now I hope when this is gone
That our two hearts will join in one.’
The heart at the top of the page is pierced with an arrow, cupid’s ‘fatal dart’, while the two large V shapes on left and right form an X or ‘cross’ when the paper is partially folded. The heart at the bottom can be read as two hearts in one, a blue one and a red one.
Folded Puzzle Purse Valentine, c. 1800 show a little more clearly the layers of text and image of these folded ‘puzzles’. The front flaps are worn enough to make the verses difficult to make out, but they are definitely different from the first example. The quadrants of the large central heart are numbered to make sure that the verses on the next layer are revealed and read in the correct order. When that heart is ‘broken,’ the next layer revealed looks like a pinwheel.
The verses on the edges of the triangular flaps are very similar to the middle set of verses in the previous example:
My Dearest Dear and blest divine
I’ve pictur’d here your heart and mine.
But Cupid with his Cruel dart
Has deeply pierc’d my tender heart
And has between us set A Cross
Which makes me to lament my loss
But I’m in hopes when that is gone
That both our hearts will be in one
However, the drawings match the verses in quite different ways, using paired hearts: the first pair of hearts are set side by side (‘your heart and mine’), the second pair include one pierced by cupid’s ‘cruel dart’ the third is separated by a cross, and the fourth are linked ‘in one’.” From [Her Reputation for Accomplishment](https://herreputationforaccomplishment.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/three-love-tokens-for-valentines-day/)