I frequently find myself pondering over the mysteries of life, like who was the first person to find that cow milk would be good for other creatures…namely humans. Who, indeed, coined the term “human?” Who searched for wax in trees and efficiently mixed it with sugar and other chemicals to form chewing gum?
And in the same fashion, do you ever wonder where personalized holiday cards first came from? Who imagined to inscribe something artistic on some form of canvas and then thought, “Let’s get creative this year. Instead of expressing to everyone best wishes for the holidays in person, why don’t I create something festive and write a note inside it. Auntie T. might appreciate it since I haven’t seen her in years. I wonder how her dog is.” It was in this regard that the very first custom holiday cards came to be…though this being on a very basic level.
Personalized Holiday cards actually first came around in the early 19th Century from where else, but Europe. Wouldn’t you know they would be the trend-setters of the day back then as well? The first technique was founded in 1796. Lithography, as the technique was called, could be used to reproduce large numbers of drawings first drawn on a finely-textured stone, starting the craze as we know it today.
The year 1843 marks the coming of the first Christmas card in England, produced by John Calcott Horsley for Sir Henry Cole. Americans didn’t catch up until the 1860s when a German Lithographer started producing the first colored cards, although custom Holiday cards around this era were primarily associated with New Year’s (and I would think this cut the hassle of going out the next day with a hangover). And as it were, roughly 20 years later these cards were replaced with the modern Christmas card as we know it today and the large-scale marketing frenzy for personalized Christmas cards began.
It’s funny how the mind works. One question leads to another and another, until finally I’ve determined the historical roots of personalized Holiday cards.