Merry Christmas …

Christmas letters were popular during the Victorian era. Bored with their nondescript look, Sir Henry Cole instructed painter/illustrator John Callcott Horsley to create something that better embodied the season. Horsley supplied Cole with an illustration of a festive family gathering. Vines and twigs framed the illustration. A message – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – provided the finishing touch and became a popular verbal greeting at holiday time in England. Cole, who owned a lithography company, was so impressed with the results that he reproduced the image on 3x5 cards. Queen Victoria became a huge fan of the Christmas card and sent out thousands each year. By the 1860s, Christmas cards were a big business in England. The first American Christmas cards were printed in Boston in 1874. For this mantle-top display, Dawn utilized Jeanne’s collection of cards that date to the early 1900s.

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