It all started with Sir Henry's Christmas letter

IT ALL STARTED WITH SIR HENRY'S CHRISTMAS LETTER

Sir Henry Cole invented the first Christmas card in 1843, the year Charles Dickens wrote his immortal "A Christmas Carol".

Sir Henry, the founder of the Vicotria and Albert museum, and a close friend of the Prince Consort, forgot to write his regular Christmas letter to his wide circle of friends.

Too late to rectify this by normal means, he promptly asked his friend J. C. Horsley, a future Royal Acedemician, to design a Christmas message whcih could be mechanically printed and signed.

One thousand copies were produced and from these Sir Henry took his needs.  The rest of the cards, all hand tinted by another of Sir Henry's friends who had a shop in Old Bond St, were sold for the princly sum of one shilling each.

As befitted the Victorian era, the original design was highly ornate.  A contemporary writer described it as "a trellis fo rustic work in the Germanesque style dividing the card into a centre and two panels.

"The sides were filles by representations of the feeding of the hungry and the clothing of the naked.  In the central compartment, a family were shown at a table, an old man and woman, a maiden and her young man, and several children and they were pictured drinking healths in wine".

Perhaps the idea of private Christmas cards was a little too expensive, or perhaps people saw them as something of a novelty of themoment.  Certainly it took some 25 years for Christmas card giving to gain any real impetus.

Slowly the idea began to catch on.  By 1868, colour was being introduced onto the cards and greeting sentiments were being expressed in rhyme and prose.

Most illustrations at that time could claim little religious or even festive significance.  Flowers, fish, reptiles, animals, fairies and children were more usual subjects.

It took a man of vision to stimulate real activity and interest in cards on a grand scale.  He was Adolph, son of Raphael Tuck, who sold cards in City Road, London.

In 1880 he launched a nationwide competition, offering 500 guineas in prize money to secure talent and originality for Christmas card designs.

The competition attracted 5000 entries which were judged by a panel of eminent members of the Royal Academy.

The event attracted so much press and public attention that the young Christmas card industry never looked back.

From News Guardian Christmas Magazine (1989?)