Victorian Christmas

One of the tricks that designers of Victorian Christmas cards used to use was to design cards that could be read right side up and upside down. In 1911, an unknown artist replaced Santa's sleigh with a recently developed mode of transportation - the airship.

Victorian cards incorporated obscure messages or images that were visible only when holding the card up to the light.

Today you can rarely find cards as intricate as those from the Victorian era or as beautifully coloured and engraved as those printed in teh early 20th Century in Germany. Germany was well known for its excellent printers.

One of the largest collections of Christmas Cards is at the corporate headquarters of Hallmark Cards, in Kansas City, Missouri. Hallmark began manufacturing cards in 1910. They have a collection of cards, not only their own dating back to the late 1800's.

Christmas History
Christmas Around The World
Christmas Art