When season’s greetings arrive by post, one wonders if it is the mailbox’s favorite time of year, too. In celebration of Yuletide, we present an array of antique Christmas cards.
Throughout many eras, the time-honored custom of sharing glad tidings by mail has marked the holiday season with particular joy. But it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that this correspondence took the shape of a Christmas card: thicker paper with a cheery illustration accompanied by a brief, generic greeting. Though some sources attribute the custom’s origins to either Scotsman Thomas Shorrock in the 1840s or a lengthy manuscript from 1611, credit more commonly goes to Sir Henry Cole, a prominent educator and patron of the arts in Victorian England.
In 1843, Cole, who would be the first director of the V&A Museum in London, commissioned artist J. C. Horsley to bring his vision to life: an illustration of several generations gathered ’round the table, lifting their glasses in toast to the recipient, above the words “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.” As the story goes, Cole amassed stacks of unanswered letters, and because he lacked the time to pen a response to each but did not want to ignore them, he envisioned this Christmas card as a far more efficient form of reply. More than a thousand were printed.
In the decades that followed, other prominent folk emulated this time-saving method of holiday correspondence. Eventually, card publishers arose, including U.S. brands such as Hallmark and American Greetings, and holiday cards became known as an art form celebrated in magazines, competitions, and even private collections.
This collection of Christmas cards primarily dates to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Each piece is uniquely handcrafted, often with fringed edges or touches of ribbon, and many feature personal inscriptions directed to loved ones on the back.
Text Leslie Bennett Smith
Photography Stephanie Welbourne Steele
Styling Melissa Sturdivant Smith
