Origins of the Christmas Card

Christmas cards were a Victorian invention - the first known card was sent in 1843 by senior
civil servant and founding director of the V&A Museum, Sir Henry Cole. John Callcott
Horsley, an artist and friend of Cole’s, designed the card. It had three panels - the outer two
showed people caring for the poor and the central one showed a family enjoying Christmas
dinner.

The First Christmas Card, 1843, John Horsley, Public Domain/Wikicommons.

Some Victorians disliked the card as it depicted a

child being offered wine to drink! The card was
sold for 1 shilling (roughly £5 in today’s money).

Until the mid-Nineteenth century, only wealthy

individuals could afford to receive post (the
delivery fee was originally charged to the
receiver). The rise in popularity of Christmas
cards was spurred by the democratisation of the
postal service. The first widely affordable stamp,
known as the Penny Black, was issued in 1840
with a print run of over 68 million stamps. The
Halfpenny stamp (Halfpenny Rose Red) followed
in 1870, making the postal service accessible to
an even wider section of Victorian society.

Penny Black, 1840, Public Domain/Wikipedia

Christmas cards surged in popularity from the 1860s, and the variety of imagery on offer was
extremely wide. Some designs featured familiar motifs and would be considered typically
‘Christmassy’ by today’s standards, but others were downright bizarre - kidnapping Santas,
dead robins and clowns all featured on Victorian designs. Nineteenth-century card producers
seemed to have a particular preoccupation with frogs for some strange reason! We hope the
examples we’ve printed give you a wee giggle.

(Because nothing says ‘Merry Christmas’ like a murderous frog!)

Many of us enjoy using specialist websites

to create personalised Christmas cards
nowadays. The first known example of a
card featuring a personalised image dates
from 1891. It was sent to friends and
family by the famous American
sharp-shooter Annie Oakley. Annie sent
the cards from our own dear green place
while she was performing here in Buffalo
Bill’s Wild West show!

In the 21st century, people in the UK send

almost 1 billion Christmas cards every
year.

Now why not find out what your bizarre

Christmas card design would look like by
using our Victorian Christmas card
generator…
1891, Garst Museum/National Annie Oakley Centre.