Charles Goodall & Son, London
The first appearance of the Victorian Christmas card is dated to 1843. It was a privately commissioned affair, and a number of years passed before holiday greeting cards were widely available to the consumer. Decorated stationery and visiting cards with holiday themes were common in the 1850's, but Charles Goodall & Son, a playing card manufacturer, issued the first substantial commercial edition of holiday greeting cards in 1862. The first cards were of a style similar to visiting cards, small with a simple greeting and decorated with die-stamped foliage or fauna.
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Fiddler with robins, ca. 1870's
This card shows some common qualities of early Victorian holiday cards. It is a small visiting card size, with a simple message. This card has a more prominent image, however, likely dating it to a later period.
Front: A HAPPY NEW YEAR
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Donkey with robin, ca. 1870's
Like the previous card, this one shows some common qualities of early Victorian holiday cards. It is a small visiting card size, with a simple message.
Front: A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR
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Girl in winter scene, ca. 1880's
Gleeson White divided the cards he examined into two camps, the "architectural" and the "pictorial". This image of a girl picking a berry from a tree is an example of the latter in that it seeks to reproduce a life-like scene, as if viewed from the frame of a window.
Front: A Happy New Year
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Children and young women in procession, 1880's
Kate Greenaway Series No. 504
Kate Greenaway was one of the most prolific and popular illustrators of the Victorian era. She is responsible for numerous holiday card designs from the 1870's and 1880's.
(top) Front: A Merry Christmas
We children, one and all, do run
To welcome here the coming Year.
(middle) Front: A Merry Christmas
May the year bring you hours
Of gladness and showers
Of sunshiny Flowers.
A Happy New Year
(bottom) Front: A Merry Christmas
The wind may blow, and bring the snow.
But friends are here, and all that's dear.
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Young women in procession, 1880's
Kate Greenaway Series No. 505
Another Kate Greenaway design.
(top) Front: A Merry Christmas May the year bring you hours Of gladness and showers Of sunshiny Flowers. A Happy New Year (bottom) Front: A Happy New Year The wind may be bleak, but the Days of the Week Skip forward to cheer and to welcome the Year.
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