Customer Reviews

Cynthia Hart's Victoriana Calendar 2009 (Wall Calendars)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Still the best & most beautiful calender on the market! While I prefer the usual postcards & datebook to the scrapbooking papers & stickers that came with this year's, there is no room for improvement on the lovely images that elevate this calender from simply useful into a work of art. Have been buying these since the first one published, and will continue as long as she keeps putting them out. Simply charming! I'm already looking forward to next year's!

2009's Victoriana calendar is one of the prettiest Cynthia Hart has put out in years. Last year's was OK though the August central picture of the naked little girl made me want to draw fig leafs on her (really I'm not a prude) and October had kids dancing rather than pumpkins while November had dogs instead of anything turkey like though there are a few bunches of fruit around the dogs that could evoke images of harvest. At any rate in 2009 all central figures are fully clothed and all monthly themes are appropriately seasonally. January has lots of roses and forget-me-nuts, February does the cupid theme (all cupid's are draped for modesty LOL), March has fairies and flowers, April is eggs, chicks and other traditional Easter symbols, May has a bicycle theme complete with Gibson girls, June is children and cats, July is patriotic, August has kids playing (though the windmills and kites seem more appropriate to an early spring theme than late summer), September is men and women in fancy dress, October is back to pure Halloween, November has an early telephone theme though lots of autumn flowers and even a turkey are included to remind us of the season and December as usual has Santa who is in very traditional red for 2009. Rather than the "bonuses" of postcards and a small datebook that have been included for the last several years Victorian style scrapbook pages and stickers are the extras.

I get this calendar every year for my mother and she loves it (she's 86 now). It's filled with beautiful colorful Victorian imagery, very nostalgic and decent, and they usually includes extra's, like a fold-up desk calendar or postcards or something. This year it has scrapbooking sheets. If you need a gift for an old lady, this is good.

Just got the new calendar, very nice! I was happy to see a Halloween theme back for October, missed it last year. The naked child someone else mentioned from last year's calendar bugged me, too, good to see everybody's clothed this year! I love September, which is a really nice Coca-Cola ad from 1907 (though you can't see any Coke logos in the picture!). February's great, too, very pretty!

I would like to see her do a full-blown Thanksgiving/ harvest theme for November some year.

I am also a longtime fan of the Victoriana calender, but felt the quality was lacking for the 2009 edition. The paper it is printed on is not as heavy as it has been in the past, there is no stand-up 12 month calender,no appointment book, and no postcards. And the four cheap pieces of scrapbook paper do not impress me.I think the 20th anniversary issue should be better and have more goodies,not fewer! I would be happy to pay more money for the quality we've come to expect from Cynthia Hart's Victoriana Calender in the future. This one was a big let down for me.I guess I'll give it another try for next year, since it has become such a tradition, but I'm not very happy with the 2009.
E.Fischer

This calendar never disappoints me and the extra stickers and scrapbooking materials are great. I miss the 12-month stand-up calendar that is usually included each year, however. I keep every calendar and have the entire 20-year collection. They are too pretty to throw away.

Have bought these for many years for myself and as gifts - each year they seem to get better. Will continue to buy in future years - similar calendars are inferior!

I too have been buying this beautiful calendar for 20 years. Although the 2009 offering is awesome, I truly miss the folding desktop calendar that was always included. It was a staple at my computer desk. I wrote the publisher , Workman Publishing, to voice my disappointment. I hope they bring it back for 2010.

The shiny gold gift envelope announces this as the twentieth anniversary edition of Cynthia Hart's Victoriana calendar. Since 1989, then, Hart has been delighting lovers of Victoriana with her lavishly beautiful wall-calendars composed of pictures of artfully arranged Victorian "scrap." I have been receiving this calendar yearly since 1993. Though I have many past editions to compare it with, I am quite pleased with this latest calendar. We greet the New Year with a picture of a young girl in green encircled by a wreath of blue forget-me-nots and yellow and red roses. More cutouts of children, more roses, some fancy-edged blue ribbon, and a few lovely Victorian floral pins surround "January" on the calendar's lower half. February offers the expected hearts and cherubs and - instead of the customary red or pink roses - violets. March has a tableau of those mythical creatures so beloved by the Victorians, fairies. May's charming tableau of a lovely young cyclist and her suitor is wreathed with delicate spring blossoms and ribbon of red tartan plaid. August's main tableau is of kites and windmills, putting one in mind of Holland. Traditionally, Hart has featured "Victorian schoolhouse" items for September; but for September 2009 she features a sophisticated, Tissot-style scene, in lavender and mauve: elegant ladies and gentlemen enjoying drinks in a hotel dining room. November's "early telephone" theme is especially interesting, and also included for this month are autumn flowers and cameo pins in blue and green. In 2008, Hart's Victorian Santa Claus (December) appeared with pink roses as well as silver and gold tree ornaments. In 2009 her Santa is again in red and is surrounded by holly and plump red roses, familiar images of an old-fashioned Christmas to round out the year.

In this special anniversary package, Hart includes some of the materials (stickers and fancy paper) necessary to make a Victorian-style scrapbook. While I do miss the date book and die-cut postcards (both of which are always based on past calendar designs) she usually includes, I am sure the scrapbooking materials will be appreciated by many calendar-buyers.

I bought two Victoriana calandars (one for home and one for work) this year as I have been doing for many, many years (maybe from the beginning) but was unpleasantly surprised when I looked inside the package and found there was no cardbord stand up desk calendar. I look forward to getting that as much as I look forward to getting the wall calendar. I have found it to be most useful at work as well as being decorative. I will have an empty spot on my desk without it, not to mention not being able to refer to it when necessary. I understand that Cynthia wanted to do something different for her 20th anniversary but I wish she had also included a desk calendar. I gave a rating of four instead of five this year only because of the missing desk calendar.