First Christmas card

One day in 1843, the artist John Calcott Horsley visited the designer, writer and civil servant Henry Cole at his Bond Street, London premises. Under the pseudonym ‘Felix Summerley’, Cole had set up a firm for ‘art manufacture’. One outcome of their meeting was the idea for the world’s first Christmas card, yet it was a notion which, in one form or another, had been around for two thousand years or so.

Pagan Origins

For example, the Romans had once sent gifts to the Emperor to mark the New Year, but over time the formal tablets on which greetings were engraved gradually replaced the gifts. This custom died with the fall of the Roman Empire, but resurfaced in 15th century Germany with a Christian emphasis, its pagan origins forgotten. This time, religious cards featuring the infant Jesus were produced, and usually captioned ‘a blessed New Year’.

Continental New Year Cards

Yet the idea fell out of fashion, and three hundred years were to elapse before it was revived, still in Germany. At first it was simply a continental version of our own first-footing, but it soon spread throughout most of Western Europe. People would go out on New Year’s Day to wish their friends good luck. If the friends were out first-footing too, they left visiting cards, on the back of which they had scribbled their good wishes. From there it was a simple step for the local printer to produce cards with a ready-made greeting. Although the card designs featured flowers and the occasional stage-coach, food was a popular subject, especially cakes and pies – but no turkeys. However, they were not Christmas cards and they were not used in Great Britain.

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