Christmas Card's Century

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25084, 23 December 1944, Page 2

Christmas Card's Century

r pHIS year is accepted as the century of the Christmas Card, and in spite of war-time restrictions and the natural decline in quality, the demand in Britain has been greater than ever. To help satisfy public demands cards are lighter, thus allowing more to be manufactured from the paper available. No card weiglis more than two-fifths of an ounce. The definite date of the first issue of Christmas cards seems in doubt. For many years its birth was regarded as having occurred in 1844, when first examples appeared in England. Only a few were designed, and they were handproduced by a Birmingham artist, W. A. Dobson, who became Queen Victoria's favourite painter. A year later the Rev. Edward Bradley, a Newcastle vicar, followed his example, and the next year, J. C. Horsley, a Royal Academician, designed one for Sir Henry Cole, the first director of the Kensington Museum and publisher of children's books. Priority on all these issues is claimed, however, for the cards in the British Museum designed and etched in 1842 by W. M. Egley, then 16, who later exhibited at the Royal Academy. Whether Egley's card was for general distribution is not clear. Thus was born a huge enterprise which now has world-wide ramifications

By a Special London Correspondent

and which —except when curtailed by war-time restrictions —results in tha. circulation of between 100,000,000 and 120.000,000 cards annually. One British firm alone produces 000.000 a year in normal times. Prices range from one penny to one guinea, and even if threepence is taken as the average the publishing house concerned would have an annual turnover of more than £370,000. Writing sentimental verse for cards is a business in itself. Many of &e poems are works of amateur poets though there are a few versifiers who make a living this way. Fees are from about sixpence a line upward. Many Poets Laureate have made money by writing Christmas verses and as much as £IOOO has been paid in isolated instances. Royal Academicians also havfc given their talents to the trade. It has been found that 90 per cent of Christmas card buyers are in the working; class, and for this reason verses must be relatively simple. Publishers have found that poems of happy sentiment sell readily, while those contain* ing such words as -'sadness," "anxiety, "worry," have practically no market at all. An interesting. sidelight on the popularity of greeting cards is shown bv the fact that a range °i' _ car( | s .. "J Braille is nowadays available for blind persons. Cards, ertbossed on deep relief, include various attractive designs and greetings, and are impressed m BranJ' symbols.