The First Christmas Card

[EnolaGaia]

In case you wondered about the first commercially sold Xmas card(s) ... One of these rare 1843 originals is currently being offered for sale.

It depicts a party scene, bracketed by what appear to be background scenes of charitable acts. No Santa / Father Xmas, nor any religious symbolism ...

Cheers! Or not: ‘Scandalous’ 1st Christmas card up for sale

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The first commercially printed Christmas card is up for sale — a merry Victorian-era scene that scandalized some who denounced it as humbug when it first appeared in 1843.

The card ... depicts an English family toasting the recipient with glasses of red wine.

“A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You,” it reads. But for teetotalers — and there were plenty of those in the 19th century — the imagery included a bit too much holiday cheer: In the foreground, a young girl is pictured taking a sip from an adult’s glass. ...

That didn’t sit well at the time with the puritanical Temperance Society, which kicked up such a fuss it took three years before another Christmas card was produced.

“They were quite distressed that in this ‘scandalous’ picture they had children toasting with a glass of wine along with the adults. They had a campaign to censor and suppress it,” said Justin Schiller, founder and president of Kingston, New York-based Battledore Ltd., a dealer in antiquarian books who is selling the card.

... (T)he hand-colored lithograph is believed to have been a salesperson’s sample. Only 1,000 copies were printed and sold for a shilling apiece, and experts believe fewer than 30 have survived, he said.

The card, intended to double as a greeting for Christmas and New Year’s Day, was designed by painter and illustrator John Callcott Horsley at the suggestion of Sir Henry Cole, a British civil servant and inventor who founded the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Cole is widely credited with starting the tradition of sending holiday cards, a multimillion-dollar industry today. ...

It’s believed to have gone on sale in the same week in December 1843 that Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” first was published. ...

FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/scandalous-1st-christmas-card-for-sale-486fac306f93c7954a945fd4d99e7136

 

[Comfortably Numb]

In case you wondered about the first commercially sold Xmas card(s) ...

This is interesting, thank you.

Quite surprised to see, 'and a Happy New Year... ' incorporated. I would have thought the latter was a much later addition.

I knew nothing of the artist, however, his Wikipedia biography is fascinating, noting:

"Horsley was born in London, the son of William Horsley, the musician, and grand-nephew of Sir Augustus Callcott. His sister Mary Elizabeth Horsley wed the famous British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1836".

"Horsley was rector and treasurer of the Royal Academy from 1875 to 1890 and 1882 to 1897 respectively. He earned the nickname 'Clothes-Horsley' for his opposition to the use of nude life models. When, during the 1880s, the example of the French Salon began to affect the Academy exhibitors, and paintings of the nude became the fashion, he protested against the innovation, and his attitude caused Punch to give him the sobriquet of "Mr J. C(lothes) Horsley" (a pun on clothes horse).

Protests against the nude in 1885 assumed a variety of forms: Moore's White Hydrangea was damaged by a 'scratching fiend' during the summer exhibition and life studies executed by Academy students were stolen. However, it was a letter printed in The Times on 20 May which proved the catalyst for igniting a national controversy around the exhibition of the nude. The letter was titled 'A Woman's Plea' and signed 'British Matron'. In fact it was penned by J. C. Horsley ...".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Callcott_Horsley

 

[Kondoru]

But everybody is drinking wine, look.

Even the kids.

 

[Swifty]

In case you wondered about the first commercially sold Xmas card(s) ... One of these rare 1843 originals is currently being offered for sale.

It depicts a party scene, bracketed by what appear to be background scenes of charitable acts. No Santa / Father Xmas, nor any religious symbolism ...


FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/scandalous-1st-christmas-card-for-sale-486fac306f93c7954a945fd4d99e7136

Cool .. and now we can all print one for ourselves for free

 

[Comfortably Numb]

But everybody is drinking wine, look.

Even the kids.

That was highly controversial!

'Horsley designed the first ever Christmas card, commissioned by Henry Cole. It caused some controversy because it depicted a small child drinking wine. He also designed the Horsley envelope, a pre-paid envelope that was the precursor to the postage stamp".
[Wikipedia]

Cue wrath of the temperence movement!

Hold your temperance: New life for the first Christmas card

Source: The Independent
Date: 21 December, 2014

It is possible that you are familiar with the story of the first Christmas card. In case not: in 1843 the inventor Sir Henry Cole commissioned the artist John Callcott Horsley to draw a card for him to send to family and friends. The result proved controversial because the British Association for the Promotion of Temperance had just been established and the card depicted a young girl eagerly downing a glass of wine.

This year, the Devon hotel Orestone Manor decided to reissue the card. They commissioned the artwork to be redrawn and for a new version to be printed which made clear Orestone's part in the story: Horsley was the manor's original owner and drew the picture there.

[...]

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...ce-new-life-first-christmas-card-9937920.html

 

[IbisNibs]

But everybody is drinking wine, look.

Even the kids.

The kids are drinking beet juice to ensure they are properly nourished. Beetroots are a great source of many essential vitamins and minerals.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

The kids are drinking beet juice to ensure they are properly nourished.

How intriguing! What makes you think so?

 

[IbisNibs]

Well, they're drinking red stuff. Surely you don't think those innocents are vampyres, do you?

 

[Naughty_Felid]

But everybody is drinking wine, look.

Even the kids.

Yeah looks like some weird cult.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

In case you wondered about the first commercially sold Xmas card(s) ... One of these rare 1843 originals is currently being offered for sale.

'Twas a day like any other... happened to switch on the TV just there and...

...first thing which comes on screen is our Christmas card!

It's 'Bargain Hunt: Christmas Gifts', with a feature where Anita Manning meets another lady who explains the history of Victorian Christmas cards and displays several other examples.

I only caught the end and hopeful it will shortly be available on BBC iPlayer.