Some of the earliest examples of greetings cards were on decorated paper, yet they were very basic. St. Valentine’s Day cards were sent, however they were not actually like a card would be today, in fact it was a very daintily orientated piece of paper with a lovingly written letter, sent by men to their female friends.  These became more and more popular however they were only available to those who could afford them as they were not for the poor.

Henry Cole plays a very important part in the history of the greetings card, for it was he who invented the idea, and published the very first Christmas card.  Before Christmas cards came about, letters were usually sent to family and friends who would not be seen over the Christmas period.

H. Dobbs

One of the earliest designers of tills embossed paper was H. Dobbs.  He began this manufacturing at number 8 New Bridge Street London, in 1803.  In 1851 he was known as Dobbs Kidd and Company after his business continued to grow steadily.  He was therefore at that time regarded as one of the leading manufacturers of this type of paper, and ornamental or Valentines, bearing the name of Dobbs are highly sought after by collectors today. During the 1840's and 1850's, Dobbs', Valentine designs were in great demand and considerable amounts were shipped to North America as well as the principle colonies.

It was said that Dobbs and company, and J. and F. Harwood of 26 Fenchurch Street, London were the main publishers of this sort of writing paper, even though many other publishers produced some brilliant work.

De La Rue

Another firm which also increased the production of Christmas cards was De La Rue. In the 1820's, when its founder Thomas De La Rue, who was from Guernsey, was still in charge, embossed paper bonnets were made.  It is considered that these were quite possibly the earliest disposable clothing, Playing cards and bank notes were also printed at De La Rue.  Thomas De La Rue invented the best type of shiny, white surfaced card.  This invention was later used by many other manufacturers of Christmas cards.  De La Rue had many artists, these included W. S. Coleman, who was very well known for his nude drawings of girls, J. M. Dealy, who also included children in his drawings quite a lot, and Ernest Griset, who was one of the finest painters of animals and birds.

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The Penny Post

Due to the reasonably new postal system, which came about on 10th January 1840, such greetings cards were easier to send.  The previous system charged 4d within 15 miles, 5d within 20 miles, 6d within 30 miles, 7d within 50 miles, 8d within 80 miles, and 1s within 300 miles. On top of this, the prices were doubled if an envelope was used.  The new system charged a standard rate of 1d for a letter to be delivered anywhere in Great Britain.

St Valentine

The festival of St. Valentine is the original survival of the Lupercalia which was introduced into Britain by the Romans. Due to the martydram of a very unfortunate Roman bishop named Valentinus who was clubbed to death on the 14^th February, during the festival of Lupercalia. The early Christian Church allocated the 14th February to St. Valentines day. On St. Valentines day it was also, therefore allowed for married women to be kissed by their male friends under the understanding from their husbands. Towards the end of the eighteenth century it was usual to send a keepsake or a lovingly written letter to a lady friend, or wife, towards the beginning of the nineteenth century these verses were being written on the new fashion writing paper.

William Maw Egley

On December 9th 1842 William Maw Egley Junior, who was at the time sixteen years old, designed a Christmas card.  This card is considered to be the first Christmas card created for general distribution.  This card consisted of four scenes: the upper left showed young people dancing the longways: the upper right showed a family Christmas dinner party: the lower left showed poor people receiving- Christmas gifts from a lady on her doorstep and the lower right showed a skating scene. These scenes are surrounded by an elaborate rustic design.  Outside of this design are four more small scenes, these are: upper left, a young women writing a letter, upper right a young man reading what may appear to be the young women's letter, the lower left side shows a Punch and Judy show, and the lower right side shows a group of wandering musicians. The final design of this card is made up of a country yokel on the left side centre, a court jester on the right side centre and finally a harlequin with a ballerina in the direct centre.  The message inside this card reads Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you".  Until this card by William Maw EgIey had been discovered it was considered that the first greetings card was designed by Sir Henry Cole in 1846, however it was Sir Henry Cole who published the first Christmas card.

Sir Henry Cole

In 1843 Sir Henry Cole, who was involved in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and founded what is now known as the Victoria and Albert Museum, forgot to send his usual letters, and therefore he decided to ask a friend to design a certain Christmas message which could be mechanically reproduced.  This friend was John Calcott Horsely RA, whose design was printed off in the front of one thousand cards.  Each card was only about the size of a small postcard. The one thousand copies were printed in lithography by Jobbins of Warwick Court,

Holborn, London, and were coloured by hand, by a professional colourer named Mason. These cards were published at Felix Summerly's Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, London, by another friend of Sir Henry Coles’, Joseph Cundall.

The card consisted of three panels, which were separated by a twiggy, leafy effect.  The middle panel of the card shows a family party, and the two side                                                                 panels represent the spirit of Christmas charity.  Within one panel, this shows the poor being fed and in the other panel, it shows clothed people.  Sir Henry Cole used those that he needed and the rest were given to a friend to sell for a Shilling (5p).

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Revd Edward Bradley

Soon after Sir Henry Cole's idea was initiated by other people who were keen to follow in his footsteps.  Two years later in 1845, the Revd Edward Bradley sent a Christmas card to his friends. This card was lithographed by Lambert of Newcastle, and although it was originally intended for private use, in 1847 it was marketed for general sale.

Almost straight away more and more people were designing cards, some time before 1846 Thomas Sturrock and one of his friends, Charles Drummand, from Leith in Scotland designed a New Year card.  Then in 1848, William Maw EgIey (I 826 - 1916), designed his card, which was not unlike the card designed by John C. Horsley as it was divided up in a very similar way with the use of vine leaves etc.

Colour

Colour was introduced into Christmas cards during the 1850's.  By this time Christmas and New Year cards were being produced in a very large scale, and the message written upon them. It was George Baxter who was responsible for the development of colour printing.  By 1 870 Christmas greetings in colour were also printed on the backs of the Post Office half penny postcards.  These were published by John S. Day, of Savoury Street, Strand, London, and due to this soon after the first government postal cards come in the USA during 1873.  American Greetings card manufacturers began publishing Christmas and New Year cards on the backs of these.

Louis Prang

Louis Prang moved to New York in April 1850, from Germany, he set up business at a plant in Roxbury, a suburb in Boston.  He moved to New York due to the failure of the 1848 Revolutions in Europe.  In 1856 Louis Prang set up as a lithographer with Joseph Mayer, in Boston, but in 1860 Prang and Mayer went their separate ways, and so L. Prang & Co. was established. 

Prang invented a system of colour printing from zinc plates, instead of printing from the lithographic stone that was usually used.

“I have used zinc plates for nearly all my colour plates since 1873, and am positive that I have saved thereby fifty thousand dollars”

In 1880 Louis Prang launched a Christmas card competition with a first prize of 1,000 Dollars. One of the judges for this competition was Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848 - 1933), who was known during 1893, due to his production of Favrile Glass in New York.

Over the years Louis Prang's cards changed a lot, during the years of 1875 - 1879, most of his cards which were produced were small, single cards, which were only printed on the one side, usually they had pictures of fruit, flowers or birds, though black backgrounds were becoming more and more popular.  The size of these cards were between (31/2x 2 in, or 4 x 2 1/2 in).

However by the late 1870's Louis Prang's cards were becoming more and more elongated usually between these sizes (5 1/2 x 2 3/4 in, or 6 3/4 in x 2 1/4 in), and he introduced his large cards during the 1880's, these were approximately (6 x 8 in, or 7 x 10 in) in size. Louis Prang had many different artists working for him, these included 0. E. Whitney, who was the designer of some of the early floral cards, Rosina Emmett (winner of the first prize in 1881).  Will H. Low, Thomas Moron and Henry Sandham. Prang's business is said to have continued until 1895, when there was very tough competition from Germany.

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America

The first American Christmas card is thought to have been issued by R. H. Pease of New York, between 1850 and 1852, there was no apparent date on the lithograph, but due to careful research it was established that it was only between these two years that R. H. Pease lived in the building which was pictured on the card.  This card however would only appear to be a one off, and it is Louis Prang who is considered to be the 'Father of the American Christmas card'.

This card was designed by Louis Prang (I824 - 1909), in Boston.  It was not, however until late in 1873 at the suggestion of Arthur Ackerman of London, that Prang filled the spaces that were usually used for tile firms name with the words "Merry Christmas".  In 1873 Prang also reproduced a card autographed by Charles Dickens, for his family and friends.  The original of this card was painted by a Mrs. Whitney and was autographed by Charles Dickens.

                                                   Wolff Hagelberg

Another leading, publisher of cards at that time was Wolff Hagelberg of Berlin.  During the early 1860's Wolff Hagelberg’s London representative was A. Ankermann and after 1869 it was E. Falck.  His London branch was at 12 Bunhill Row, though from 1881, he also had an office in New York at 36 and 38 East 12th Street. Wolff Hagelberg's cards very often included pictures of guardian angels watching over children.  He also produced many novelty cards to commemorate the Colonial Exhibition at South Kensington in 1886, and another card that he designed was of a Punch and Judy Show, which showed in silhouette when it was held up to the light.

Marcus Ward

In 1867, a Belfast publisher, opened a London branch, which was known as Oriel House, Farringdon Street, and was designed by Thomas Crane (Walter Cranes brother), who later became their design director. Marcus Ward's firm had great success and in 1897 the firm were awarded the Gold Medal of the Victorian Era Exhibition, Earls Court.  This medal was awarded to them for their exhibit of lithography and stationery samples of their world famous Christmas cards, which were dated from 1867 to the present time.

Benjamin Sulman

Benjamin Sulman, of Upper Thames Street, London, and later of City Road and Warwick Lane, made small engraved, embossed and die stamped cards, which in many cases had 'lace' edges.  He is considered to be the second most ambitious Christmas card producer of the1860's.

Ollendorff, The Obpacher Brothers, Meggendorfer

Other German publishers of greetings cards were Bernhard Ollendorff of Berlin, the Obpacher Brothers of Munich, as well as the very highly successful Lothar Meggendorfer also of Munich, whose trick cards sold well in both London and America, from the 1870's to the1890's.

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Rapheal Tuck

Raphael Tuck began his Christmas card production during 1871. He increased trade by holding Christmas card competitions from 1880 onwards, giving away big prizes for Christmas card design.  These competitions were judged by Royal Academicians, 925 designs were judged and were displayed in the Dudly Gallery.  As the rewards were so big, the best artists could make a living from Christmas card design.  In 1897 it was written in the Windsor Magazine that the fee for the average design was 3 guineas, and one of the best designers could earn up to 900 pounds per year.

During 1880 Raphael Tuck gave away 500 pounds in prizes, and he even bought a selection of designs for 2,500 pounds.  He also published some designs which were by Royal Academicians, Marcus Stone RA in 1882, G. H. Boughton, W. C. T. Dobson, J. C. Herbert, G. D. Leslie, H. S. Marks, E. J Poynter, J. Sant and W. F. Yeames. Queen Victoria was known to have bought at least one thousand of these cards, to send to her neighbours at Windsor and Osborne.  The majority of cards that she sent in 1895 were of children dancing in costume, though she also ordered almost one hundred cards which had 'Home Chat' written on them.  This 'Home Chat' card, when it is stood up correctly is said to have been approximately 12 inches high, by 10 inches wide and 8 inches deep, it was designed under the intent to represent the offering, from the Wise Men of the East.

Kate Greenaway

Kate Greenaway received only 3 pounds for her first Saint Valentines Day card, which sold over 25,000 copies in just a few weeks.

Walter Crane

Walter Crane introduced the idea of designing Christmas cards using politics in 1874, when he designed a card in which Lord Derby was replaced by Father Christmas.  'Triumphant Return Of Mr Christmas'.  This card shows Lord Derby standing in an open carriage with, as a coat of arms, a plum pudding, and a knife and folk.

S. Hildersheimer & Co

From 1876 and onwards, one of the stronger competitors was a German Company called S. Hildersheimer & CO, of, Silk Street, London.  This company also had branches in Manchester and New York, and in 1879 they produced a set of cards called the 'Penny Basket'.  S. Hildersheimer also reproduced etchings as well as water colours by Wilfred Ball, who was a member of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers.  S. Hildersheimer also held a Christmas card competition as well as an exhibition at St. James's Hall, London, in 1881. This was intended and arranged in order to copy Louis Prang.

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Competitions and Exhibitions

Other firms were soon to follow these ideas of Christmas card competitions and exhibitions, from 1877, Hildersheimer and Faulkner of Jewin Street, London, arranged quite a large competition and exhibition, which was held in the Suffolk Street Gallery, (later to be the Royal Society of British Artists' Gallery).  In 1882, they paid out 5,000 pounds in prizes.

Alice Havers (winner of the first prize of 250 pounds) was the daughter of the manager of the Falkland Islands and she married the artist Frederick Morgan.  Because of her success in the Christmas card competition, she became one of the most Sought after artists of that time and she continued to design such cards right up until her death in 1890. Hildersheimer and Faulkner introduced photogravure cards in 1892, they also experimented in many ways in order, to improve their greetings cards, these included mixing silver with the colours so that in the winter scenes the glistening of the snow will be more realistic.

Adolph Tuck

Even after the introduction of greetings cards, due to Henry Cole, and the sudden increase of designers, it was thought that they were not very popular, until Adolph Tuck became familiar with the idea, and launched a Christmas card design competition in 1880, with a 500 guinea prize. It is therefore Adolph Tuck who is considered to have stimulated the most interest in Christmas cards, however it was not until 189) that Such cards received Royal approval, when Queen Victoria ordered some from Adolph Tuck's father Raphael.

Messrs Goodall

In a letter to the Times in 1883 it was said that it was Messrs Goodall (the playing – card manufacturers of Camden Town from 1862), who were the most ambitious and commercialised the issues of Christmas card production.  People who could remember this period said that Goodall's is the most prominently associated name with Christmas card production.

AIfred Bryan

Alfred Bryan was a designer of political cartoon cards.  Alfred designed such political cards like Gladstone in an express train ('I shall soon be back into power') or Lord Randolph Churchill, (Winston Churchill's father) sitting on a crescent moon and playing a mandolin. These cards however were thought of as fun and were not found to be the least bit offensive.

Angus Thomas

A card which was produced in 1887 by Angus Thomas 'Ode to the specials', which he designed after demonstrations in Trafalgar Square during that same year, would have definitely have been offensive to the crowds of people who fought the police and towards the family and friends of the two people who were killed on 'Bloody Sunday' the 13th November 1887.

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Different types of card

As greetings cards became more and more available, a much wider variety of types and styles became more and more popular.  Many of the Victorian Christmas cards were of very religious scenes, they were decorated highly, though the pictures were not what would be expected on a Victorian Christmas card, or as a way of expressing the Victorian religion. Some of the cards also showed signs of possible cruelty, with the introduction of sadistic cards.  Many cards consisted of simple pictures, and others especially those of nude people became increasingly popular.  The work of W. S. Coleman and his nude cards was liked a great deal by Ruskin, and the work of Miss E. G.Thomson was admired by Lewis Carroll. Scenes of everyday life within the Victorian era were also used quite frequently in Christmas cards, along with the stagecoach during the 1880's. The 'New fangled bicycles', decorative ships and the motor car became very popular designs during the 1890's.

Sir Frank Lockwood

In 1897, Sir Frank Lockwood sketched a motor car as his personal card, and in 1903 Professor Hubert Herkimer printed a card of a car travelling at full speed.  This card is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Jonathan King

Jonathan King turned his Islington house into a Museum of Christmas cards due to the huge amounts that he had.  In the 1890's the collection weighed between six and seven tons, and his collection included about 163,000 varieties of different cards published between 1862 and 1895, but the majority were dated after 1880, and they were all put together in groups.  All of this collection was destroyed during 1918 in a fire.

The idea of sending Christmas cards was not really considered to be a valuable idea by Baptists, Methodists, Mennonites, Amish and Lutherans until 1900.  Even then it was Roman Catholics and Protestant Episcopalians who were the first to adopt this idea. Up until the 1900's Christmas cards were not usually signed or mailed, but they were delivered with a calling card.  Also before this time many things such as silk fringes, tassels, mother - of – pearl and satin were used to decorate Christmas cards.  The most frequently used designs include animals, flowers, fish, children, young women and summer scenes, which were printed 'In a variety of different colours.

Between the years of 1900 and 1914 postcards which were printed in Germany with images of Santa Claus, fireplaces, doorways, snow scenes, holly and the Nativity as motifs became increasingly popular as Christmas cards.  These sold for one penny in the USA.  The idea of sending Christmas booklets containing poems continued in England, until 1914.

Joyce C. Hallmark

Joyce C. Hallmark was the founder of Hallmark greetings cards and is considered to be the architect of the modern day card industry. This business that he started back in 1910 on the 10th January continued to grow and has now exceeded a 3 billion Dollar corporation. Hallmark cards are a world wide Organisation with international headquarters in places such as Kansas City.  They are distributed to more than one hundred countries and are available in over thirty different languages.  They have therefore come a very long way since a poor eighteen year old, from Norfolk, Nebraska arrived at Kansas City, with two boxes of picture postcards and many great ideas. One of these was to distribute them. He sent packets of one hundred cards to various different dealers throughout the Mid - west. This idea, at first would appear to have been quite unsuccessful, as many of the dealers which were sent these cards returned then with an angry note attached to them, and other dealers kept the cards without sending any form of payment.  Hallmark, however decided to continue with his idea as he was encouraged when one third of the dealers kept the postcards and sent a cheque in return. Within about two months Joyce C. Hallmark had already gained 200 Dollars and as a result he opened an account.  Even though he considered this to be a great Success, he was not entirely satisfied that with postcards he would continue his business. As a result, he took more interest in the more quality type cards, such as Christmas and Valentines cards that were mailed in envelopes.

"The international Fine ARTS Competitions for paintings on the Christmas theme sponsored bay Hallmark cards, Inc., Kansas City, were a significant artistic contribution to Christmas cards in the USA”

Encyclopaedia

Many Hallmark art award paintings are frequently used on their Christmas cards.

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Greetings Cards Today

Today greetings cards have changed considerably and are now available for a great deal more occasions than the previous Valentines and Christmas cards. They are now available for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Easter, and many more occasions, others are more open such as Thank You, Congratulations, Good Luck, etc., and the most recent variety for many different companies are the cards which express general attitudes, such as "I Need A Hug".

Greetings cards have also improved with the introduction of colour and stronger colours with a vaster assortment.  The colour that is used in cards today is stronger and more vibrant.  Cards have also improved over the years as they are no longer causing problems to the environment, as many cards are now being produced on paper which has either been recycled, or ensures that when one particular tree has been cut down in order to provide paper, at least one more tree is planted to take it's place, therefore these cards have a piece of writing which is dedicated to making this point.

“This card is printed on the paper made from the pulp of managed Nordic forests. All trees used in the manufacture of this paper are replaced, thus helping to replenish the Earth’s resources”

Carte Blanche Greetings LTD

Today greetings cards undertake a much more detailed approach before they are printed and mass produced.  Carte Blanche greetings cards LTD, go through several different stages before they are finally printed off.

Firstly to produce any good Greetings card the company needs a good idea.  These ideas are usually though up at a design meeting, where a small group of artists, production staff and marketing staff will discuss various ideas and then try to decide on a final one.  Within this meeting various things are considered such as the price of the card and how the final design will work.  This is thought of by many companies as the hardest stage, but without dome, this tile production cannot continue.  Many of the best ides which are thought of very often either turn Out to be too expensive to produce, or impossible to make.

Once one idea has been agreed on and it is decided that it is practical to make, it then needs to be developed, usually by the artist and a member of the production team. Then once the idea has been put into design, the artist will make a hand - made version to ensure that it works correctly, they will therefore know just how strong the card has to be, and how many pieces of card will be needed to produce this specific design etc.  This procedure will then be followed by even more discussion, this time to ensure that with the additional information the card will not cost any more to produce than it can be sold for.

The next stage for producing a card would involve consulting a team of artists and sales marketing staff, who will decide who the card is best aimed at.  These decisions usually depend on what occasion range the company does not already produce at that particular time. I feel that by introducing cards for every occasion the companies are exploiting the public in order to increase their income.  The artist present at this meeting will use the information as a type of brief, and will proceed to produce even more test pieces.

For a typical greetings card company, even more work will need to be done before the production stages.  The same group of people will get together again and decide on any final changes which they feel will need to be made.  When all of this is sorted out the artist will then design the final artwork, which will be given to the printers to be printed.  The finished artwork is scanned by camera and output into separate film positives one is used for each of the different colours, Black, Magenta, Cyan and Yellow.  These film separations are used to produce the plates that are needed for the printing, press.

These printing plates need to be tested and so there are two or three sheets printed off, some of which will be inspected for variations in colour and faults in the artwork etc.  One of these sheets will be given to the artist who will check that he is pleased with the outcome.  In order to make sure that the printing machines still work properly, the artist will cut out the proof and put it into the finished product by hand, to make sure that the printing on both sides line up correctly.

Once the group are happy with any alterations, the printer will then begin to print off the cards.  Whilst this is in process the printer will continue to check the various cards against the original.  A few sheets will be used to produce the dye cutting form, whilst the print is drying properly.  This device is used for cutting out the shapes for the design.

Once all of this is completed, the sheets are given to the assembly workers, who by hand will separate the off cuts from the design pieces.  These will be re checked for any more faults before they are put together as the finished product.  The cards will then, finally be packed with matching envelopes and sealed into a cellophane bag. These cards are sold to retailers, usually in packs of about a dozen.  The individual designs are packed into packs of twelve and then into other boxes for storage.  Once the completed designs are available samples are given to the sales force to show to their customers.  If the designs are liked then orders will be made.

The whole of tile process will then continue again exactly as before, providing that the previous process and design was a success and the cards were all sold. Over the years cards have also altered in size, before and during 1843 cards were only available in two standard sizes, quarto and octavo, where as today greetings cards are available in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.

Collecting Cards

Christmas cards have been collected since the nineteenth century.  These cards were not only collected by the receivers, but also by connoisseurs who would research into the history of the firms which produced them.  One of the biggest Christmas card collectors was Jonathan King, who not only tried to buy different samples of every card which was available at that time, but later on in the nineteenth century, he even bought up many of the manufacturing companies.