Holiday Greeting Card
Warmest wishes from Tiny Tuesday and Electronic Greeting Card Day!
As the holidays roll around, many of us will send greeting cards to our friends and loved ones, by mail or online. Though the folks of the 19th and early 20th centuries did not have the option to send e-cards, they certainly loved to send physical ones to friends and family.
A whimsical example is this late 19th century Christmas card, depicting a sweet little kitten. The stylized greeting reads “Compliments of the Season.” The card is a chromolithograph, a method used to create colorful prints during this period; the maker is unidentified.
The first Christmas Cards are credited to Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882), who in 1843 created a universal card with a generic greeting and holiday scene. The card could be personalized with the receiver’s name; much less stressful than writing a letter during the busy season. American greeting cards were born from Boston printer Louis Prang (1824-1909), though many of his designs correlated to ones such as our cheerful kitten, not necessarily associated with the holiday. Prang’s designs often featured nature scenes and animals that were not tied to any specific season.
For reasons unknown, Victorians were fans of cat -themed holiday cards, and quite a few are in the FRHS collection.
After all, they are purr-fectly splendid little cards!