The first Christmas card
We owe so many of our Christmas traditions to the Victorians. Victoria's husband Albert gave us our Christmas trees, writer Charles Dickens emphasised food and family, and Christmas cards were the idea of Sir Henry Cole.
The first known item that looked a bit like a Christmas card was given to King James I of England (who was also King James VI of Scotland) in 1611. This was more like a large ornamental manuscript rather than a card as we think of them today. It was 84cm x 60cm (33" x 24") and was folded into panels (it might have been folded so it could be carried around). It had a picture of a rose in the centre and a Christmas and New Year message to the King and his son was written into and around the rose. Also on the manuscript were four poems and a song - so rather more than are on cards today!
The custom of sending Christmas cards, as we know them today, was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. Coincidentally, this was the same year that Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol was published.
Henry Cole (1808 – 1882) was a prominent civil-servant, educator, inventor and the first director of the V&A. In the 1840s, he was instrumental in reforming the British postal system, helping to set up the Uniform Penny Post which encouraged the sending of seasonal greetings on decorated letterheads and visiting cards.
Christmas was a busy time in the Cole household and with unanswered mail piling up, a timesaving solution was needed. Henry turned to his friend, artist John Callcott Horsley to illustrate his idea.
Together they designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. The card had three panels. The outer two panels showed people caring for the poor and in the centre panel was a family having a large Christmas dinner. Some people didn't like the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine!
About 1000 were printed and sold. The venture was a commercial flop, but the idea grew in popularity with time. As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card, and also Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards.
Those first cards by John Callcott Horsley and Henry Cole are now rare and valuable. One of 12 surviving cards from the original print run, sent by Henry Cole to his grandmother, was sold for £20,000 in 2001.
Further reading
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