Christmas Cards
The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry
Cole in London, 1843, and featured an illustration by John Callcott
Horsley. The picture, of a family with a small child drinking wine
together, proved controversial, but the idea was shrewd: Cole had helped
introduce the Penny Post three years earlier. A batch of 1000 cards was
printed and sold for a shilling each.
Early English cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead
favoring flowers, fairies and other fanciful designs that reminded the
recipient of the approach of spring. Humorous and sentimental images of
children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate
shapes, decorations and materials. In 1875 Louis Prang became the first
printer to offer cards in America, though the popularity of his cards
led to cheap imitations that eventually drove him from the market. The
advent of the postcard spelled the end for elaborate Victorian-style
cards, but by the 1920s, cards with envelopes had returned.
Cards continued to evolve throughout the 20th century with changing
tastes and printing techniques. The World Wars brought cards with
patriotic themes. Idiosyncratic "studio cards" with cartoon
illustrations and sometimes risque humor caught on in the 1950s.
Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images are once again popular, and
reproductions of Victorian and Edwardian cards are easy to obtain.
"Official" Christmas cards began with Queen Victoria in the 1840s. The
British royal family's cards are generally portraits reflecting
significant personal events of the year. In 1953, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower issued the first official White House card. The cards usually
depict White House scenes as rendered by prominent American artists. The
number of recipients has snowballed over the decades, from just 2000 in
1961 to 1.4 million in 2005.
