There are 30,000 cards – and counting – under the one roof of the Print Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where visitors can study examples ranging from 18th century Valentine’s to present day cards covering all occasions.
The majority of the collection, mostly Christmas cards (approx 15,000), was acquired by the Museum from a collector named, George Buday, artist and author of, The History of the Christmas Card.
The first director of the V&A, Henry Cole, sent the first Christmas card in 1843, paving the way for the collection of greetings cards in the Museum’s Word & Image department. Hopefully Sir Henry would love the exclusive Christmas cards available online from our Shop today.
Highlighted are a selection of Christmas cards from the 1920s and ‘30s, held in the V&A’s archive and reproduced for 2013 that express a nostalgic feel through their folk-style, rural scenes, and simple printing techniques.
We hope to spread a smile with some of our vintage inspired Christmas cards. Pudding Boy, one of our all time bestsellers, is a design from an album of designs collected by London art student R.P. Gossop (1876-1951). This design tells the post Christmas dinner story perfectly. Too much figgy pudding? We all know the feeling!
Hello, I have found some ‘new baby’, 1st and 2nd birthday cards from the early ’60’s, would they be of any interest/use to yourselves? Seems a shame to waste them if it can be avoided.
Thank you for reading my email anyway.