The History Of The Christmas Card
By Catherine Spelling, Fri Dec 9th

The Christmas card, as we know it, originated in England in theyear 1843. An artist named John Calcott Horsley was commissionedby Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy and successful London businessman,to create a card that could be sent out to his friends andclients to wish them a merry Christmas.

Sir Henry Cole was very well known at the time, for a number ofreasons. He had a helping hand in helping to modernize theBritish postal system. He played a prominent role in thecreation of the Royal Albert Hall, and acted as the constructionmanager on this massive project. He also arranged for the GreatExhibition of 1851, and he oversaw the inauguration of theVictoria and Albert Museum.

One of Sir Henry Cole's greatest aspirations in life was tobeautify the world around him. He owned and operated a wonderfulart shop on Bond Street, which specialized in decorative objectsfor the home. His shop was hugely popular with the British upperclass, and he earned a tidy sum from his business.

The Christmas card he commissioned was fashioned in the form ofa triptych, which is a three-paneled design that allows for thetwo outer panels to be folded

in towards the middle one. Each ofthe two side panels depicted a good deed. The first showed animage of people clothing the poor, and the other side panelshowed an image of people feeding the hungry. The center piecehad an image of a well-to-do family making a toast andsurrounded by an enormous feast.

The inscription on the inside of the card read "A MerryChristmas and a Happy New Year to you." Of the one thousandcards printed for Sir Henry Cole, only twelve exist today inprivate collections. The printed card became highly fashionablein England during the years that followed. They also became verypopular in Germany. It took quite a long time for the idea tocatch on in America, then popularized by a German expatriatenamed Louis Prang in 1875. Today, more than 2 billion Christmascards are exchanged each year. Merry Christmas, all!

About the author:Catherine Spelling absolutely loves spending Christmas withfamily and friends. When she is not counting down the days untilChristmas, she writes for christmaslightsanddecorations.com - anonline resource for all things relating to Christmas anddecorations, with information about decorationsfor Christmas, pre lit Christmas trees, Christmas wreathsand more.