Some Old Time Christmas Cards

The first ever Christmas card was commissioned by Sir Heny Cole commissioned that first Christmas card on May 1, 1843, with its illustration provided by John Callcott Horsley. Christmas cards soon caught on and, by the late Victorian Era, they were popular on both sides of the Pond. Of course, by today's standards some Christmas cards from the Victorian and Edwardian Eras would seem downright bizarre and even morbid by today's standards. Here are a few vintage Christmas cards.

A dead robin hardly seems Christtmasy, but I am guessing this card is rooted in Irish traditions surrounding St. Stephen's Day. The wren was thought to represent the old year, while the robin represented the New Year. Capturing one of these birds was then thought to be good luck.

The image of Santa Claus dumping a child into a sack is shocking to modern eyes, but at one time Santa was believed to pack the naughtiest of children away in a sack, not unlike Krampus. 

Another card with a robin, although this bird is much luckier than the one above. This card from circa 1880 features a group of elves serenading the robin with musical instruments, which the robin probably finds much more preferable to the fate some humans would deliver him. 

Not every Christmas card in the Victorian and Edwardian Eras were quite so bizarre. Cats were as popular in the Victorian Era as they are now. Here's a cute card of kittens drinking a bowl of milk. 

This card featuring cats buying oranges and eggs from a market stall, despite the fact that most cats I know have no use for oranges! This card This card came out in 1903 and was listed in the Raphael Tuck & Sons' Ltd. 1904/1905 catalogue.

While some Victorian and Edwardian Christmas cards seem downright bizzare, some could be rather pretty. Here is an example of one that is a pretty. It is a New Year's card featuring a British mail coach, probably form the 1870s or 1880s.