The First Christmas Card Was Designed in 1843

In December 1843, a busy civil servant named Henry Cole had a problem: too many unanswered letters and not enough time during the hectic Christmas season. His solution would revolutionize how people celebrate the holidays forever.

Cole, who helped reform Britain's postal system and later became the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, turned to his friend—artist John Callcott Horsley—with an unusual request. He wanted illustrated cards he could send instead of writing individual letters to everyone. Cole's diary entry for December 17, 1843 records: "In the Evg Horsley came & brought his design for Christmas Cards."

A Victorian Family Toast

Horsley's design featured three generations of the Cole family raising glasses in celebration, surrounded by a decorative trellis border. On either side, smaller scenes depicted charitable acts—feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. The central image was hand-colored, making each card a miniature work of art.

A printer produced about 1,000 to 2,050 copies that Christmas, offering two versions: a black-and-white edition for sixpence and a hand-colored version for one shilling—quite expensive for the time. Each card included space for a personalized greeting and bore the message: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

Temperance Trouble

Not everyone appreciated Cole's innovation. The card sparked immediate controversy because it showed young children holding wine glasses alongside their parents. Victorian England was in the midst of a powerful temperance movement, and critics accused Cole and Horsley of promoting alcohol consumption to minors. The backlash contributed to the card's commercial failure—it barely sold at its original high price.

Despite the rocky start, the idea caught on. Within a few decades, Christmas cards became a beloved tradition across Britain and eventually the world. Advances in color printing made them affordable for ordinary families, and by the 1880s, sending Christmas cards was a cultural phenomenon.

Worth More Than Gold

Today, surviving copies of that first Christmas card are extremely rare and valuable. When one came up for auction in 2013, it sold for £22,000—a far cry from its original one-shilling price tag. Only a handful of the original cards are known to exist, with several housed in museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

What began as Henry Cole's time-saving solution to holiday correspondence became one of the most enduring Christmas traditions, proving that even controversial innovations can change the world.