One of First Christmas Cards Auctioned

[rodeodance]

interesting bit of history.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051203/ap_on_fe_st/britain_christmas_card;_ylt=AngzL22gxmpPfYiXbNfm9jqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
One of First Christmas Cards Auctioned

5 minutes ago

LONDON - A 162-year-old Christmas card, one of the first commercial cards produced for the season, sold at auction in England on Saturday for $16,000.

.....

"Cole printed 1,000 of the cards on a lithograph stone before having them hand-colored.

The card drew some criticism from prudish Victorians because it shows some of the family enjoying a glass of wine, but that didn't stop the practice of sending cards from catching on.

Although wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in Europe in the Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year's cards are believed to have been produced by Cole in 1843."

[xchrom]

1. cool -- it always amazes me to see ephemera

that old.

[rodeodance]

4. wish they had showed a pic of the card.

[zanne]

5. Exactly what I was thinking.

Bummer. I love to see things like that. Why write an article about something so visual and not give us a visual?

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Wouldn't it be funny if it said "Happy Holidays"?

:rofl:

[zanne]

6. LOL! nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. How many of the current boosh* cards will wind up on eBay?

I'm planning on putting mine up.

So is my wife... Morgan Fairchild... Yeah, that's the ticket.... ;-)

[Missy M]

7. I would love to see a photo of the card. I collect some ephemera,....

mostly Christmas cards, but the oldest I have are from the late 1800,s to early 1900's. They are really pretty and fun.

[seriousstan]

8. This might be the card....

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Cards/first_christmas_card.htm

Credit for designing the Christmas card is given to John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903), a Royal Academician and well-known painter who designed the first Christmas card in December 1843 at the request of Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882), founding director of the South Kensington Museum (renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899) and closely associated with the Great Exhibition of 1851. The first Christmas card appeared in the same year that Charles Dickens penned The Christmas Carol

The first edition of cards was lithographed and hand colored and shows a family party and with the legend "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." They were printed on stiff cardboard, 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches, by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London. Each was then hand-colored in dark sepia by a professional "colourer" named Mason. It also states that is was "Published at Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, London," by his friend and associate Joseph Cundall; the publishing firm was owned by Cole. Those he didn't use were sold from Summerly's for one shilling each. According to Cundall, "many copies were sold, but possibly not more than 1,000." 2 Only a dozen of the originals are known to exist today. One of these went to auction on Saturday, November 24, 2001; it sold for a record £22,500 (US$ 32,337 as of January 3, 2002). It was sent by Sir Henry to his "Granny and Auntie Char" and was signed by Sir Henry, which makes it exceptionally rare. Ordinarily, one of these cards is expected to go from between £3,000 and £6,000.

Cole's card is about the size of an ordinary postcard, 3 1/4 x 5 1/8. The card showed a family enjoying a Christmas feast as they all toast their absent friend (the addressee) during the festive season with glasses of red wine. It was set within a woody, rustic border hung with ivy, grapes and vine leaves (holly did not appear on Christmas cards until 1848 by William Maw Egley, Jr.). The oblong side pieces depict the charitable acts of "clothing the naked" and "feeding the hungry".4 However, the middle panel caused such a stir with the public that the cards were withdrawn from sale.5 Family, good works, and good eating and drinking, three elements of a classical Victorian Christmas made an appearance on the first Christmas card.