http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/christmascards

Greetings by Sydney Grey.

Can there be any greetings, I wonder,

To feeling and friendship more dear,

Than the two that so seldom we sunder -

"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"?

When affection's whole force is paraded,

A genial warfare to wage,

And each holly-crowned home is invaded,

Like that on the frontispiece page.

Our artist has surely with reason

Permitted his fancy to rove,

For good wishes just now are in season,

And letter-bags bursting with love.

Here's a bit of young madcap's sweet folly,

Which grandpapa's laughter will stir;

Here's a card to dear Ted from Aunt Molly,

And somebody's missive to her.

Cousin Tom has a certain small token,

The sender it fails to avow,

But I doubt not his thanks will be spoken

Very close to the mistletoe bough.

Well - away on your mission, fair greetings,

High embassy yours to fulfil;

Ever hailed amid joyous heart-beatings,

The pledges of peace and good-will.

Location: The Girl's Own Paper (1882) Vols. 3-4, 1882. Parker Collection BQ087.1/1882

DISCOVER

Christmas Cards

Although the first Christmas card appeared in Britain in 1843, the tradition of sending cards did not become popular until the 1870s, when the introduction of the half-penny stamp made sending mail affordable for all. It was usual at this time for friends and relations to exchange letters at Christmas time, telling of the year’s events and their wishes for the coming year. Card publishers began to offer inexpensive yet beautifully illustrated greetings cards as a novel alternative to the Christmas letter and the custom quickly gained popularity.

The Christmas cards featured in this gallery have been taken from a small selection of the scrapbook albums and individual examples held by the Library of Birmingham. Collecting was a popular Victorian pastime amongst wealthy children and women, who would have created their own albums as keepsakes and to share with others. Cards would be pasted into albums along with decorative chromolithographs or 'scraps' and other ephemera of the period. Each Christmas card album is utterly unique and complete examples are becoming increasingly harder to find. A great source of information for social historians, these scrapbooks document a snapshot in time; recording passing events, trends and fashions.