Oldest Mass-Produced Christmas Card

Oldest Mass-Produced Christmas Card
Part of Bridwell Library Collection



John Calcott Horsley. [Christmas Card]. "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." 82 x 130 mm. [London: J. C. Horsley. 1843]

"What is believed to be one of the first mass-produced Christmas cards -- dating back more than 160 years -- can be found among the extensive special collections of Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology.

The lithographed card caused a controversy in some quarters of Victorian English society when it was published in 1843 because it prominently features a child taking a sip from a glass of wine.

Approximately 1,000 copies of the card were printed but only 10 have survived to modern times. Bridwell Library acquired its copy in 1982. The card was designed for Henry Cole by his friend, the English painter John Calcott Horsley (1808-1882). Cole wanted a ready-to-mail greeting card because he was too busy to engage in the traditional English custom of writing notes with Christmas and New Year's greetings to friends and family.

The card pre-dated color printing so it was hand-colored. The card is divided into three panels with the center panel depicting a family drinking wine at a celebration and the flanking panels illustrating charitable acts of feeding and clothing the poor. The greeting reads: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

Cole, who also wrote and published Christmas books, printed more cards than he needed so he sold the extra cards for one shilling each. Bridwell Library's card was signed by Cole and addressed to the engraver of the card, John Thompson (1785-1866).

Widespread commercial printing of Christmas cards began in the 1860s, when a new process of color printing lowered the manufacturing cost and the price. Consequently, the custom of sending printed Christmas greetings spread throughout England. The first American Christmas card dates from about 1850 and resembles Horsley's design".

Source: Southern Methodist University

Cool Cards featured in Stuff Magazine

The December edition of Stuff magazine feature several of our Christmas cards..!




The cards featured include:

"Darwin Atheist" from our Atheist and Secular Christmas cards.



"Xmas family" from our Uncooked Christmas cards


"The Evolution of Tradition" from our Atheist and Secular Christmas cards.


View all our Christmas cards at Cool Cards

Recycle Christmas Cards - Woodland Trust

In 2007 the Woodland Trust recycled 93 million Christmas cards, the equivalent of 1,844 tonnes.

From the 2nd to the 31st January 2008, help the Woodland Trust reach their target of recycling 100 Million Christmas cards in order to plant 24,000 trees this year!

It is estimated that 1 billion Christmas cards (17 for every woman, man and child) could end up in bins across the UK (Defra) this Christmas
• One fifth of the contents of household dustbins consists of paper and card
• UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste every year. This quantity of rubbish would fill the Albert Hall in London in less than 2 hours
• On average, each person in the UK produces 500 kilos of household waste per year. This weighs the same as three and a half million double-decker buses, a queue of which would stretch from London to Sydney (Australia) and back.

The Woodland Trust

Cards Blessed by Church of Enlgand

Talk about a Bandwagon...

"A selection of Christmas greetings cards blessed by the Church of England is set to take the social networking site Facebook by snowstorm this Advent."

"The virtual cards, based on religious themes, can be sent on with a personalised message and are freely available to any of the seven million active users in the UK registered on Facebook."

"The Church of England has worked in partnership with Rechord – a leading web design agency in London, specialising in social networking and web applications for charities – to create the environmentally-friendly virtual cards. The designs feature colourful animations representing key elements of the nativity story, including the journey of the wise men to see the ‘new born King’."
Source : The Church of England

"The idea for the Facebook application follows last year’s Church of England online Advent calendar, (from Rechord : "Would you like a site that not only increases traffic, but persuades your visitors to act?") which received wide media coverage and around 1,000 unique visitors each day during December."

"The slightly not so good thing is that receivers of cards will need to add the application, which they may not wish to do. Adding Facebook applications is of course a bit of a privacy risk as you are giving your information to a third party (the creator of the application) about whom you know nothing. I am of course willing to give the Church of England my information, but not everyone will be."

"Of course if you are a real luddite you could send them an actual card made out of card in the style of yesteryear."

Source : Episcopal Cafe

Also from : Cartoon Church

Coincidence - Cartoon Church Christian greeting cards delightfully reminiscent of Cool Cards Edward Monkton

Rechord deface York Minster Dec. 2006. (Well we never claim to be cutting edge...)

Royal Mail Christmas Stamps

The Church of England has greeted Royal Mail’s decision to re-establish a religious theme for its Christmas stamp collection.

The Royal Mail is to release a collection of eight stamps with illustrations of baby Jesus, Mary, as well as angels, this Christmas.

The Church was highly critical in 2006 when the Royal Mail’s stamp collection carried only secular themes of the Christian holiday, and even though they have welcomed the return to religious themes this year, the Royal Mail said it would alternate between secular and religious themes annually.

The Church has emphasised the importance of Christmas stamps being filled with Christian-themed designs rather than a random secular selection, as this would "remind people of the true meaning of Christmas".

Source: Christian Today
Wiki : Christmas

Royal Mail - Post in time for Christmas 2007

Royal Mail recommended posting dates for Christmas 2007.

"Do you want to send post in time for Christmas? If you're sending gifts or cards to family, friends or business contacts you have to start thinking now. Here you'll find all the last posting dates for the UK and around the world. To beat the rush, post well before the recommended date."

.:Click:. Royal Mail recommended last UK and International posting dates before Christmas 2007

UK last posting dates:

Friday 14 December - Standard Parcels

Monday 17 December - Second Class

Thursday 20 December - First Class

Friday 21 December - Special Delivery™
Saturday guarantee

Saturday 22 December - Special Delivery™


International Airmail:

Friday 7 December - South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (except Japan), Australia and New Zealand

Monday 10 December - USA, Canada, Japan and Eastern Europe

Thursday 13 December - Western Europe


International Surface Mail:

Monday 1 October - All non-European destinations (except USA, Canada, Middle East, Far East and South Africa)

Monday 15 October - Middle East and Far East (except Hong Kong and Singapore)

Monday 29 October - USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa

Friday 16 November - Eastern Europe, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Malta and Iceland

Friday 30 November - Western Europe


Royal Mail can arrange for alternative formats of this information to be sent to you in…
• Large Print
• Braille
• Audio CD
• Audio Cassette

To obtain a free copy call Royal Mail Customer Services on: 08457 740 740

If you are deaf or hard of hearing, Royal Mail offer a textphone service on:
08456 000 606

To ensure your post gets there safely:
• Please use the correct postcode
(visit www.royalmail.com/postcodes if you are unsure)
• Add a return address on the back of the envelope
• Make sure you pay the correct postage for international items

Source (pdf)



Royal Mail Christmas Stamps

Recycling Christmas Cards

Greeting Card Crafts and Activities

After Christmas, or any occasion, what do you do with all the beautiful greeting cards you receive? Do you pack them away? Do you throw them away?

Forget those ideas and recycle those used greeting cards! Here are some ideas to get you started. Can you think of others?

• Bookmarks - Create unique bookmarks with pictures cut from old greeting cards.

• Gift Tags - Be prepared with fancy, home-made gift tags.

• Greeting Cards - Transform old greeting cards into new ones!

• Lacing Toy - Make fun lacing cards for the younger kids.

• Ornaments - Trim your holiday tree with these simple ornaments.

• Place Mats - These decorations can be made from a handful of old greeting cards.

• Storage Box - Use decoupage techniques to create this fun box.

When it comes to recycling greeting cards, one of the simplest things to do is to cut the front picture off the old greeting card and use it as a postcard. Draw a line down the blank back, write a message on the left-hand side, and address it on the right-hand side.

Read more
.:Click:.

Calls to recycle Christmas waste

Up to one billion cards and 83 square km of wrapping paper will be thrown away this Christmas - much of it needlessly - the government has said.

In all enough rubbish to fill 400,000 double-decker buses will be produced, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

Half of the festive waste could be recycled, but more than 80% will be binned, it claimed.

It is calling on people to recycle jars, bottles, cans and unwanted gifts.

Recycling points

Britons will also use 24 million jars of mincemeat, pickle and cranberry sauce, Defra said.

If these glass jars were recycled, it would save enough energy to boil water for 60 million cups of tea, said Environment Minister Elliot Morley.

Further waste is created by the traditional Christmas meal, with around 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging and 4,200 tonnes of foil expected to be thrown out.

And, once the festive season is over, about six million Christmas trees will be binned, creating more than 9,000 tonnes of waste.

Read more
.:Click:.

Christmas Card Recycling Scheme

Helping the environment by reducing the
amount of waste going to landfill

Help us reach our 2007 target of 90 million Christmas and New Year cards by:

	Recycling YOUR cards from 2-31 January
	Taking your cards to any mainland WHSmith store*, TESCO supermarket (including selected Express stores) and TK Maxx stores
	Downloading materials to publicise the scheme
	Find out what happens to your cards

Read more
.:Click:.

Christmas Card sent for 60 years

A Hampshire woman has received a family Christmas card, which has been sent between relatives for nearly 60 years.

Renee Warren, of Emsworth, remembers her parents first sending the "Scotch Christmas card" to her cousin, Ethal, in Tooting, London, in 1947.

When her mother died, she continued the tradition, and still sends the card to Ethal, who now lives in Canada.

Mrs Warren said the card, which has had to be reinforced with sellotape, "chartered the family's history".

Read more
.: Click :.

19th Century Christmas Card Publishers

In the Victorian era when a person paid a formal call on a friend, it was customary to leave a visiting card as a reminder of the visit. These cards were typically small, about 2 by 3 inches. In 1860, Charles Goodall & Son, a British publisher of visiting cards, began mass producing cards designed especially for visits at Christmas. These Christmas and New Year's visiting cards were the forerunners of greeting cards and were decorated with simple designs such as a twig of holly or flowers.

By 1895, most of the original Christmas card publishing firms went out of business due to the importing of German cards, which were less expensive. The following is a list, with examples, of some of the most popular early publishers of 19th century Christmas cards:

Read more
.: Click :.

History of Christmas Cards

The first holiday greeting cards were probably the "Christmas Pieces" made by students in the early 18th century. Students would take large sheets of writing paper, printed with engraved borders, and write messages to their parents expressing holiday greetings. A child might write a message such as "Love to Dearest Mummy at the Christmas Season" or "Holiday Wishes to Aunt Agatha and Uncle Fred." These samplers were designed to show their parents how well their handwriting had improved over the past year. By 1820 colour was added to the engraved borders, making the pieces much more decorative. The use of note paper with matching envelopes, both with decorative designs printed on them, was another early custom. The invention of the Christmas Card was a natural progression from these Christmas traditions and the customs associated with Calling cards, Reward of Merit cards, and Valentine cards.

Read more
.: Click :.

Christmas card sells for over £8000

A Christmas card sent 163 years ago as one of the first seasonal greeting cards has been sold for £8,469 at a Wiltshire auction.

The hand-coloured novelty is one of an estimated 10 cards remaining from an original batch of 1,000 printed in London in 1843.

The cards were sold for one shilling each (5p) at a shop in Old Bond Street.

Read more
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Christmas Card Verse

The first Christmas card’s inscription read: "merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you." "Merry" was then a spiritual word meaning "blessed," as in "merry old England." Of the original one thousand cards printed for Henry Cole, twelve exist today in private collections.

Sir Henry Cole was a prominent innovator in the 1800s. He modernized the British postal system, managed construction of the Albert Hall, arranged for the Great Exhibition in 1851, and oversaw the inauguration of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Most of all, Cole sought to "beautify life," and in his spare time he ran an art shop on Bond Street, specializing in decorative objects for the home. In the summer of 1843, he commissioned Horsley to design an impressive card for that year’s Christmas.

Read more
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Christmas greetings... from Torquay

Did you know that the first commercially produced Christmas card was designed in Torquay more than 160 years ago?

The festive season is fast approaching and it's that time again when we all sit down to draw up our all-important Christmas Card lists. But did you know that this annual friendly offering is a tradition which has its roots in Torquay? We have to travel back to Victorian times for this particular Christmas story - to 1843 to be exact...

Read more
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Victorian Christmas Cards

"The Victorians celebrated Christmas with characteristic enthusiasm and had deep respect for custom and tradition..."

Read about the history of Victorian Christmas Cards and view some beautiful Christmas Card designs...
Read more
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