The Christmas card was invented by Sir Henry Cole in 1843.

It is believed that he was inspired to come up with the Christmas card by examples of valentines days cards, which had been popular in England. As well as it was customary for pupils in English schools to produce Christmas pieces. These usually were large sheets of paper which the pupils decorated with colorful borders and headings, and then inscribed with Christmas greetings in their best copperplate.

Cole commissioned artist J.C. Horsley to design the picture for his first card. The picture was based on the common medieval artistic device of a triptych which was a set of three illustrations. The central illustration was a jolly party of adults and children with plenty of food and drink. Underneath the picture was the greeting "Wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you". Each side panel represented good works such as the clothing of the naked and the feeding of the hungry.

His idea did not catch on at the time it was not until about 20 years later that big stationery firms were producing thousands of Christmas cards and Cole's initial failure had become a tremendous success.

123 Greetings Ecards - [External Link]