The first Christmas card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and illustrated by John Callcott Horsley in London on May 1, 1843. I read that only 1000 of such cards were made - but then I read else where that two different batches were made totaling 2050 cards - so I don't know who is telling the truth LOL - but either way - they were time consuming being that each card was first printed in black ink (think olden day printer) and then painted by hand. Sir Henry Cole wanted to give them to his friends and loved ones and the rest were sold at a schilling each. So only those with big bucks could afford such a card.
The cards had three panels. The two side panels depicted giving to the poor and the middle panel depicted a family enjoying Christmas dinner together. Notice in the center, a child being offered a glass of wine - this did not sit well with many people.
It was then in 1875 where Louis Prang, a Lithographer and publisher who was known for his early adoption of the chromolithographic color printing process introduced the first Christmas card to America. His company was the first to make commercially printed holiday greeting cards available to the public, which afforded him the title of "father of the American Christmas card."
By 1881, it is said that Prang was printing 5 million cards a year. The process of chromolithography, which is the process of making a print with several colors was very time consuming. It involved creating a litho stone plate for each color that would be printed on the card. Some later prints of more detailed cards required up to twenty plates to create the intense colors and gradation that Prang wanted to create. It was a very expensive and labor intensive process that no one else was able to match in quality. Each card was considered a "work of art."
Unfortunately, during the 1890's the market was flooded with inexpensive post cards from Germany that did not involve the time and money that Prang was putting forth for the creation of his beautiful Christmas cards. He was not willing to compromise his artistic standards in order to compete with the market so he decided to get out of the greeting card business and work on future publishing projects.
Can you image what the value of one of these original cards would have today? I would love to get my hands on one!
XO <3
