Finished design for a Christmas card
Drawing
1848 (made)
1848 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This was once thought to be the first Christmas card because its date, 1848, was misread as 1842. Its design and format is similar to Horsley's Christmas card (see MSL.3293-1987), each showing scenes of middle-class festivities balanced with acts of seasonal charity. Both cards are printed on single sheets about the size of a calling card.
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Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Finished design for a Christmas card (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil on paper |
| Brief description | William Maw Egley, Finished design for a Christmas card. 1848. |
| Physical description | Christmas card depicting a ballroom scene on one side and a Christmas dinner on the other side, separated by a Harlequin and Columbine dancing above a swagged banner reading "MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU". Beneath these are scenes of poor people queueing up for soup and some men walking in cold weather. |
| Dimensions | Dimensions from catalogue: 3 3/8 x 4 3/4 inches |
| Production type | Design |
| Credit line | Given by Mr. H J Deane |
| Object history | E.11 and 12-1940 are the preliminary drawing and finished design for a Christmas card. E.13-1940 is the etching made by the artist after this design. The card was claimed by the artist in his 1935 catalogue to be the second Christmas card produced in England. |
| Summary | This was once thought to be the first Christmas card because its date, 1848, was misread as 1842. Its design and format is similar to Horsley's Christmas card (see MSL.3293-1987), each showing scenes of middle-class festivities balanced with acts of seasonal charity. Both cards are printed on single sheets about the size of a calling card. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum Charles Dickens: An exhibition to celebrate the centenary of his death London: HMSO, 1970. P.59. Catalogue of the exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, June-September 1970.
The full text of the entry is as follows:
'H2
William Maw Egley (1826-1919)
The second Christmas card.1848
Two sketches and the finished design
Pencil: etching. Each 31/4 x 43/4
E11/2-1940; E.13-1940
The increasing concern with Christmas felt in early Victorian times is seen in the advent of the first Christmas cards in the 1840s. H1, designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley for his friend Henry Cole (see I 30, 31), was put on public sale in 1846. The scenes chosen to decorate both this, the first Christmas card, and W.M. Egeley's successor of 1848 empha-
size the conviviality and the charity of Christmas.' |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.12-1940 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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