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Holmes County Herald
Lexington, Holmes County, Mississippi
What is this article about?
The origins of Christmas greeting cards trace to 1843 England, where artist John Calcott Horsley designed the first for Sir Henry Cole, depicting a family dinner. Early U.S. cards were published by Louis Prang in Boston. A copy is in Hallmark's Kansas City collection.
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In England
Friendly, merry, reverent, grateful Christmas sentiments find expression in greeting cards at the holiday season.
Just when the sending of greeting cards first began is a question that may never be settled, especially since it is always possible that early examples of printed Christmas greetings are waiting to be found among private books and papers.
The Cole-Horsley card is considered by many to be the first published Christmas card. It was designed in Britain in 1843 by John Calcott Horsley, a well-known artist of the period, for Sir Henry Cole, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The card bears the now-universal greeting, "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." It shows a joyous family seated at Christmas dinner.
A copy of the card, discovered in England in recent years by a representative of Hallmark, is now part of the Hallmark Historic Collection housed at the greeting card company's headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.
Louis Prang of Boston, an art-loving lithographer, published the best known early Christmas greetings in the U. S. He conducted art and literary competitions for greeting card material, and published cards of outstandingly high quality.
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Location
England, Britain, Boston, U.S., Kansas City, Mo.
Event Date
1843
Story Details
The first published Christmas card was designed in Britain in 1843 by John Calcott Horsley for Sir Henry Cole, featuring a family at dinner with the greeting 'A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.' A copy is in the Hallmark Historic Collection. Louis Prang published early high-quality Christmas greetings in the U.S. through competitions.