Victorian Valentine Card with Red Carnation & Woman Portrait

Much like a modern AI-generated image that somehow looks almost correct but fundamentally wrong, this card depicts a blond woman wearing a blue headband staring out from the center of a large red carnation with the calm, unblinking confidence of someone who has fully accepted her floral imprisonment. The text asks if you'd 'be willing to see a miss' in a flower like this, which is less a romantic invitation and more a philosophical threat — as if the sender is warning you that women are now living in carnations and you'd better be okay with that. A stack of red hearts pierced by a downward-pointing arrow hovers to the right, because nothing says 'Valentine' like a symbol of cardiac penetration next to a woman who has merged with plant life. Artist Helen E. Jeffers signed this body horror situation, apparently very proud of it.