Who Sent The First Christmas Cards?

Surprisingly, Christmas cards derive from a much more ancient custom – the Romans used to send them on the midwinter feast of Saturnalia, the forerunner of Christmas. However, the first actual Christmas card was produced in 1843. It was designed by artist John Calcott Horsley, on the instructions of prominent reformer Sir Henry Cole, and printed in London. It featured a group of respectable-looking revellers drinking what looks like punch, (there were complaints that it encouraged drunkenness) and bore a clear caption, "A merry Christmas and a happy new year to you." It is unmistakably a Christmas card. Around a thousand copies were sold; and a massive new industry was born.

What undoubtedly made the spread of this custom possible was the innovation of the Penny Post in 1840. Now ordinary people could afford to send as many letters and cards as they wanted; and we have all been doing so ever since.