There were holiday cheer greetings in the 1400s, which people sent for New Years wishes that were printed on different paper like materials, and some linen as well.

In the first part of the 1800s, children would make Christmas well wishing cards to send to their parents. They used extra large sheets of fancy bordered paper to write their Christmas wishes, greetings and tell them about school within.

Parents would take this opportunity to see how far their children had come in their schooling and writing as well. Some would even draw pictures to include in their notes home.

Around this same era stationary sets that included envelopes matched to the accompanying paper took a peaked interest. These were especially popular with the ladies of the time to send invitations and other elegant correspondences

Christmas greeting cards that we are familiar with today did not make an appearance until the 1843 holiday Christmas celebration. They began being printed in this year.

Because of Sir Henry Cole we had the very first Christmas greeting cards. He really hated writing separate letters of best wishes, congratulations etc. To all members of his family and his acquaintances. A great friend was delegated to take care of this problem for him.

His picture of the perfect card included one detailed design with the same words on each one to be duplicated hundreds of times. This would make him free from writing all messages of the same thing himself to his growing lists of family and friends.

John Calcott Horsley was the creative friend that came up with well over 1,000 copies of the same card that he designed, colored by hand and then printed all by himself. These particular cards of Christmas tidings became known as the first of many greeting holiday cards that were then produced as commercial by Horsley.

As the postal service started to serve areas all over the world more and more people grew in the concept of sending their greetings and messages this way by cards that many people could receive but none had to be hand written. The company of Raphael Tuck & Son took this opportunity to get in on the people's wants of these cards and grew a very prosperous business.

The Royal Family, Queen Victoria in particular asked Mr. Tuck to design and print holiday cards for her Royal Family to send out at this joyous time of year to those they hold dear. Tuck & Sons lasted as a very booming business until the first half of the 20th century.

The only way Americans in the United States could purchase these delightfully designed cards was by import from one of two places, Great Britain or the European distributors, that is until it all changed in the year 1875.

A lithographer from Germany Mr. Louis Prang moved to Boston in the year of 1850 and had much experience in the printing processes. This helped him become a great designer of fabulous detailed cards for any and every occasion you could think of. These were now being sold commercially in the United States.

What made him stand out from the other printing card companies was his very new and innovative type of color process printing, which added detailed magnificent colors on all of his designs. If you needed Easter greetings, Thanksgiving blessings, Christmas tidings or congratulations you would find a card just right for you.

The Victorian era saw some of the most delicately detailed and beautiful cards to which none can compare to today. These were intricately designed to look as if they were painted by artistic hands which made them even that more special as collectibles as well today. You may get lucky and find some of these in your great-grandmothers attic or trunks or at antique shops or online auction sites as well.

This is just a small part of the history of the Christmas cards but a very important one. So when you choose your Christmas Greeting cards this year be sure to pay extra attention to their designs and their detailing find one that speaks to you.

About Ged Matthews

Ged Matthews is the owner of www.christmasnetwork.co.uk. They are suppliers of personalised and charity Christmas Cards to the UK market. All Christmas cards are produced in the UK using only sustainable materials. Follow the link to find out more or order a FREE sample Traditional Christmas Cards.