December 9th is Christmas Card Day! (Who knew??)
I hope most of you are busy getting your hand made cards ready for Christmas
Did you know that Christmas cards were a British invention? Sir Henry Cole was an Englishman in the 1800's and he created the first commercial Christmas card in 1843. Interestingly, he is also credited with helping to create the first postage stamp and postal system, called the Penny Post three years prior to that. Maybe he needed to find a way to get his "post office" some new business??
The Penny Post charged a, "uniform rate of one old penny for delivery of packets up to one pound within London. There were several deliveries a day within the city, and items were also delivered to addresses up to ten miles outside London for an extra charge of one penny.", (quote from Wikipedia).
An early postmark from the Penny Post…
More Christmas card lore… "Official" Christmas cards began with Queen Victoria in the 1840s. The British royal family's cards are generally portraits reflecting significant personal events of the year. In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card.
And there you have it!
