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Shop our range of Christmas cards here, including 10% off for V&A Members and free UK delivery on orders over £60.
- Christmas Decorations, Cards And Gifts
Discover something special in our one-stop destination for...
- Christmas Gift Range Online
Shop our range of Christmas cards, decorations and products...
- Christmas Decorations, Cards And Gifts
Shop our range of Christmas cards, decorations and products here, including 10% off for V&A Members.
Discover something special in our one-stop destination for all your Christmas present needs. Whether you’re looking for Christmas cards and decorations, unique and clever gifts or stocking fillers, we have lots of ideas to keep you in everyone’s good books – for another year at least! 286 Products. Sort By:
Dec 21, 2021 · Three Christmas cards designed by a young Beatrix Potter are to go on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The cards were made when Potter was 23 to provide friends and family...
Royal Academy Art Cards Royal Academy Notecard Wallets & Postcards Winter Printmakers Winter Printmakers Favourites Winter Die-Cut and Pop-Out Advent Calendars Printmakers Notelets Canns Down Press Dry Red Press Die-Cut Card Collection OCCASION CARDS Art Card of the Day Cards by Artist (A - B) Cards by Artist (C - D)
Feb 7, 2024 · Christmas card with an illustration of two robins, Britain, ca. 1860–ca. 1880, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. Have you ever wondered why robins are such a dominant image on Christmas cards? Apart from various religious legends, one possible reason concerns the postal system.
- Origins
- The First Christmas Card
- The Idea Catches on
- Victorian Christmas Card Designs
- Christmas Card Texts
- Collecting Christmas Cards
Adults have, of course, been writingletters to each other for centuries. Even before there was an official public post system, letters were delivered in person, by servants, and via transport coaches. There had also been prints made from the 15th century, using woodcuts or copperplate printing techniques, especially for calendars. It was, though, i...
Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882) was a civil servant who had, in 1840, reformed the British postal system by helping to create the Universal Penny Post where senders used the now-famous Penny Black postage stamps. Cole would later become the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1843, Cole had a brilliant idea. Not only could he ...
Fortunately for the future of Christmas cards, the royal family was enthusiastic for all things Christmassy. In particular, Prince Albert (1819-1861) brought German Christmas traditions to England such as the Christmas tree. It was, though, the younger members of the royal family who adopted the idea of sending each other handmade greeting cards bo...
The first cards were printed on small single sheets of card, but they soon progressed to come in all shapes and sizes. Victorian Christmas cards were typically lithographed and hand-coloured before colour-printing took over. Many used embossed paper, sometimes with cut-out parts to resemble lace, particularly for borders. There were even cards deco...
On the front, inside or on the reverse of the card, the printed text also became more varied through the years, and below are some 19th-century examples: Cards often came with longer printed texts such as poems or several verses of popular carols. An example of a typical verse within a Victorian Christmas card is:
Beautifully made and capturing memories of the season, the Victorian middle classes became avid collectors of Christmas cards, which explains why it became common to have the year printed somewhere on the card. Perhaps the most famous card collector was George Buday – he even wrote a celebrated book on the history of Christmas cards, his The Story ...
- Mark Cartwright
