Today’s broadcast is sponsored by: TheGreatestCards.com
German Beginnings?
Christmas Card Facts
The First Christmas Card History (brief):
Sir Henry would hand write greetings and best wishes to his family, friends, and acquaintances on sheets of paper decorated with Christmas themes or generic holiday cards to which the specific holiday could be added. Sir Henry felt this was most inefficient so he commissioned a Christmas card with a single message that could be duplicated and sent to everyone on his list. The card was produced with the Words “A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU” written across a banner covering the bottom half.
“The first Christmas card published was issued from Summerly’s Home Treasury Office, No 12 Old Bond Street, in the year 1846. The design was drawn by Mr. J.C. Horsley, R.A. at the suggestion of Sir Henry Cole, then Mr. Cole.” – Lady Dorothy Nevill, Under five reigns
Ridiculous Newspaper Garbage!
The Miami News – Dec 17, 1939
A More Historical View:
Philip V. Allingham, Contributing Editor, The Victorian Web; Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario Excerpt: Christmas cards, coincidentally, originated in the early 1840s also, no particular thanks to either Charles Dickens or Prince Albert. In 1843, town aristocrat Sir Henry Cole, always too busy to write proper letters to his friends at Christmas time, commissioned John Calcott Horsley of the Royal Academy of Arts to develop a decorated hasty-note. Having had a thousand printed, Cole sent the numerous leftovers to be sold at a stationer’s shop in Old Bond Street, London. The idea was slow to catch on, however; not until the 1880s did the general production of commercial Christmas cards begin in England.
First Christmas Card History from Victoriana.com Excerpt: John Callcott Horsley (born 1817– died 1903), a British narrative painter and a Royal Academician, designed the very first Christmas and New Year’s card at the request of his friend Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum). Cole suggested the idea of a specially designed form of greeting to send to friends at Christmas. In 1843 an edition of 1,000 of these Christmas cards were printed and placed on sale in London. They were printed in lithography by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London, and hand-colored by a professional “colourer” named Mason. The cards were published under Sir Henry Cole’s nom de guerre, “Felix Summerly”—by his friend Joseph Cundall, of New Bond Street.
Buy a copy of the First Christmas Card
What your Christmas Cards says about You:
This is a funny set of descriptions, these are to the point, these are for for business and these are by Professor of Psychology Cary Cooper.
Christmas Card Special Mind Map on MindMeister.com
