The Victorians invented Christmas cards among other seasonal traditions

Posted in Art, Arts and Crafts, Christmas, Historical articles, History, Religion on Wednesday, 2 October 2013

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This edited article about Christmas originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 415 published on 27 December 1969.

Christmas Card, picture, image, illustration

Four Christmas Scenes on a Victorian Christmas Card

It was in the 1840’s that Mr. Henry Cole decided that writing letters to all his relatives and friends at Christmastime was a tedious task.

Henry Cole, later Sir Henry Cole, first Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, asked an artist friend of his to design a card which he could send instead of letters at Christmastime. So his artist friend, John Calcott Horsley, did just this, though neither Cole nor Horsley realised that they started a fashion which we still keep.

The first Christmas card was sent in 1843.

Strange as it may seem to us now, the early Christmas cards were not religious. Perhaps the notion of putting such images on cards appeared improper to the Victorians. Equally strange, those early cards had no wintry scenes. They displayed hand-painted birds and flowers, and had lacy surrounds rather like Valentines. But they did have the Christmas greeting.

In 1867 the Fleet Street firm of Thierry thought up the idea of giving their cards a wintry, frosty look. Fine glass was blown on to them in thin bubbles. The bubbles burst, leaving a glittery appearance.

The most popular notion was to make the cards lively. One was a device to make people and scenes rise up like the toy theatres of the times. Another trick was to have paper tabs, or bits of silk cord, which, when pulled, made flowers spring up and doors and windows open.

One very charming card shows the front of a house with all windows curtained and the front door shut. Outside the house stand carol singers. When a tab is pulled the curtains lift up and the door opens. People are shown at every window, and at one window stand a boy and a girl by a Christmas tree. Just inside the front door is the master of the house with a jug of hot, steaming drink and a plate piled high with mince-pies for the singers.

Another means of giving life to the cards was that of envelopes to be opened up, which were stuck on the card itself. One card like this has a picture on it saying “Toy Box.” The flap and sides of the box open up to show pictures of toys.

Wintry scenes increased, complete with Father Christmas and robins, and a few cards started to show the Christmas story of Mary, Joseph and the Infant Jesus. However, the main themes were those of summer scenes, flowers and red-coated soldiers. The Victorians seemed to have loved soldiers as symbols of Christmas, just as we love pictures of olden-day coaches.

Around 1890 the comic Christmas card began to appear. One of these shows an imitation banknote with the words “Pay to the Bearer a Thousand Good Wishes.”

Many well-known artists became designers of Christmas cards, and among the best known of these was Kate Greenaway.

As the years passed by the Christmas card fashion grew and grew, and it is thought that by 1894 over 200,000 designs had been made.

What a long way the Christmas card has come from that first design made for a man who hated writing letters!

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