The tradition of sending holiday greetings with postcards appeared in ancient China, more than a thousand years ago.
In those days, if a person wanted to greet someone but didn't find the host at home, they would leave something like a personal business card under the door, with greetings and wishes written on the back.
The first art postcard greetings on the holiday date back to 1794. Just imagine 227 years ago!
The postcard was drawn by the English artist Dobson, depicting a happy family near a Christmas tree and a winter landscape. At the time, he did not attach much importance to this invention, but simply intended to congratulate his friend in an unusual way.
The world's first industrially produced postcard appeared on the eve of 1843.
It was at that time that this method of greeting was gaining popularity in England, so the idea also struck an Englishman - the artist-designer Henry Cole.
Due to his busy schedule, he didn't have time to write long congratulatory letters and asked his friend to draw his family at Christmas dinner.
In addition to the picture, the card also contained the phrase "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!", which is still used in greetings today.
In Ukraine, Christmas cards appeared in large quantities at the end of the 19th century, with the appearance of illustrated postcards in postal circulation.
A wide variety of subjects were used for postcards of that time: Christmas symbols, portraits of famous Ukrainian figures, children, carolers, animals, angels, New Year's decorations, national ornaments, and, of course, Saint Nicholas.
And publishers involved the most famous artists of their time in creating illustrations.
Among those whose work was not spared by this layer of culture were: Vasyl Dyadyniuk, Osyp Kurylas, Olena Kulchytska, Edward Kozak, Antin Manastyrsky, Svyatoslav Gordynsky, Julian Kraykivsky, Yaroslav Pstrak and many others.
The postcards were very diverse.
From gigantic to completely miniature, made of fabric, wood, fragrant and musical.
Later, special albums began to be produced for their storage.
And the cards themselves were used to decorate homes, diaries, and boxes.
This period was called the "golden" age of postcards by philocartists (those who are passionate about collecting and studying postage stamps and illustrated postcards).
In those days, a postcard sent by mail was perceived as a sign of affection and special attention and was a gift of a unique artistic miniature.
Its uniqueness was due to the fact that on the back there was a personalized handwritten greeting.
Despite the fact that the tradition of sending greetings is a thing of the past, or rather, is being modified, adopting the electronic form of greetings in messengers, the idea of a physical Christmas card turned out to be so successful that it is still used today.
And receiving such postcards, just like many years ago, is especially pleasant and touching.
Write a comment