PICTURED: World's FIRST Christmas card sent over 170 years ago
AN IMAGE of the world’s first Christmas card, sent over 170 years ago has been revealed by London's newest heritage attraction - The Postal Museum.
The world’s first Christmas card has been revealed at The Postal Museum
The greetings card, which is now worth thousands of pounds, was bought for one shilling in 1843 - the same year that Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol was first published.
The handwritten inscription on the top reveals the recipient of the card: 'Annette Caroline Ramsden', and the handwritten inscription on the bottom reveals the sender: 'Leonore A N Bell'.
The cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, founding Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Cole employed John Callcott Horsley R.A., a well-known painter, to design the card.
Horsley's design depicts two acts of charity - “feeding the hungry” and “clothing the naked” - and a family party scene, in which three generations are drinking wine to celebrate the season.
The initial print run was 1,000 cards and they were first intended for use as a personal greetings card for Henry Cole, who then sold the remainder in his shop.
The cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, founding Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum
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The card, normally stored in the museum's archives, would have been sent using a Penny Red stamp.
The Penny Red was introduced just one year after the world's first stamp, the Penny Black, was put into circulation in 1840.
Before the Penny Black revolutionised the post, people would have had to pay to receive mail.
It was bought the same year Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol was first publish
The Penny Black
The cost depended on distance travelled, as well as number of sheets enclosed, resulting in the cryptic looking practice of 'cross-writing', where one set of writing is written over the other.
The world's only full sheets of Penny Black stamps are held in the archives at The Postal Museum, and one of the priceless sheets will be going on display when it opens in mid-2017.
The stamps are so rare that earlier this year a sheet of the Penny Blacks was sent to New York in a bomb-proof briefcase, to go on display at the World Stamp Show.