A brief history of (weird and wonderful) Victorian Christmas cards | V&A

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From dancing Christmas puddings, to a lobster snipping at a child, cats doing acrobatics and a dog postman with human hands - explore the wide selection of (sometimes unexpected) Victorian Christmas cards in the V&A's collection!
Join us as curators Alice Power and Sarah Beattie take a look at cards from our Prints collection to reveal weird and wonderful tastes from the Victorian era. In a period of great change and innovation, Victorian card companies didn't hold back on trying new ideas, resulting in everything from the now familiar image of Father Christmas and robins, to talking vegetables, fighting kittens - and even clowns!
00:00 The origin of the Christmas card
03:20 Traditional designs
04:47 Food
06:59 Children and animals
08:41 Humour
10:41 Novelty/delicate cards
See objects yourself in our Prints and Drawings Study Room: www.vam.ac.uk/info/study-room...
Find out more about the first Christmas card and Victorian Christmas traditions:
www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-fi...
www.vam.ac.uk/articles/victor...
Discover more in our Print collection: www.vam.ac.uk/collections/print

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Опубликовано:

19 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 184

@veryberry39 Год назад

Never have much thought to the "llamas and sloths" thing til it was pointed out in context. I love the idea that future historians might be just as amusedly confused over it as we are by Christmas lobsters!

@vamuseum Год назад

Can't wait for historians in 3022 to be figuring out our obsession with Louis Theroux

@IrishAnnie Год назад

Gnomes have been trending for two years in ALL stores I have shopped this season. And tree ornaments are equally crazy. Star Wars, Kitchen appliances, super hero’s. A hundred years from now, they will be scratching their heads…..

@themermaidstale5008 Год назад

@@IrishAnnie Hopefully there will be collectors of these things, too.

@IrishAnnie Год назад

@@themermaidstale5008 There will be, and they will be worth a fortune!

@stardust949 Год назад

LOL! I am giving one of my daughter-in-laws a very saucy pair of Lobster Earrings as a gift this Christmas---she enjoys odd things like that. 😉

@nunyabiznes33 Год назад

The Victorians were really true cat enjoyers. I also like that translucent cards. It looks cool even to my modern eye.

@OdeInWessex Год назад

You can blame Louis Wain for that one.

@IrishAnnie Год назад

They were stunning.

@muffincandle1413 Год назад

"Despite what you may think, this is actually a loaf of bread"... I love that the presenter was anticipating us thinking it was maybe a poo emoji 🤣🤣🤣

@vamuseum Год назад

👀

Год назад

It looks a little bit like poo....

@mrs.h.l.g-b5814 Год назад

And the co presenter saying " disturbingly human hands" in regard to the dog postman card. Lol

@63artemisia63 Год назад

Compared to some of the idiotic puns I’ve heard, the Victorian puns are charming. Jingle, jingle, ho-ho-ho to the V&A staff 👌

@blazetings Год назад

😂😂😂 💩 💩 💩

@mimsnkinks Год назад

The Crystal Palace card absolutely took my breath away. So much lovely detail in all the cards. Thank you for this heart warming video

@michelehood8837 Год назад

That was my favorite one

@CrowSkeleton Год назад

Looking at the card at 2:50 makes me wonder how long memes (or "fads", I suppose) would last in the pre-digital era...some Victorian would be cracking up at the old "giant lobster devouring children", I bet.

@IrishAnnie Год назад

The presenters were incredible. They explained the cards so well. This was a wonderful presentation. Thank you so much! ❤️🎄⛄️🎅🎁

@stardust949 Год назад

One of the reasons I still send Christmas cards, with individually written notes inside, and often photographs---is to put into their lives something TANGIBLE. To receive it, in their daily mail---with love and decorations and personal caring. To me, it expresses to them that their presence in my life is meaningful---they count and are important. I enjoyed this video, thank you.

@grown-upactress4155 Год назад

Same

@katierobertson9459 Год назад

the v&a NEEDS to reproduce the Great Exhibition card for their gift shop, i almost cried when you opened it up

@JoMarieM Год назад

That 3D angel card was absolutely gorgeous! And the translucent card was really cool, too! I wish that more cards could be made like that today!

@maple1255 Год назад

What a beautiful display of Victorian Christmas cards, in such wonderful condition. I like how very gently you display them, they have found a fine home there at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

@marjoleinspruijt4154 Год назад

I have over 300 postcards antique ones and new ones that look old. They don't make them like that anymore. The detail is amazing

@jwolfe1209 Год назад

So much in common with modern cards... Anthropomorphic animals? check! Objects with "cute" faces? Check! Popular slang that makes no sense to anyone outside the group? Check! Puns that are both cringy and kind of charming? Omg check! I can see a historian 150 years in the future doing a similar show and tell with the current batch of meme based cards roaming around!

@vamuseum Год назад

I'd love to time travel and find out what they make of the symbolism behind Kermit the Frog

@malthesse Год назад

I've heard that the Victorians also used to send Christmas cards portraying dead birds, and perhaps other dead animals as well. That feels really bizarre, and I wonder what that was all about. I've also heard somewhere that the reason that so many Victorian Christmas cards had spring motifs rather than winter motifs is because Christmas also used to be a time of romantic love, where you used to court your love interest, and of course the spring with birds and flowers are motifs strongly associated with love and romance.

@mvdl1224 Год назад

Very informative as always. This video is just the cheese V&A!

@vamuseum Год назад

Brie-lliant! 🧀

@OdeInWessex Год назад

@@vamuseum Oh God, please make it stop! 😆

@hogwashmcturnip8930 Год назад

This cheese thing. In Spain everything is 'La Leche' The Milk! It is used to describe cool things, bad things and everything in between They will even take a '*' in the milk. I have seen two opposing explanations of that one. One being so Happy, and the other being the direct opposite. So maybe dairy products were once common slang for emotions and things and events. After all people used to talk about the Cat' Whiskers, the dog's ** and the Bees Knees!

@magicknight13 Год назад

Simply wow!! What an incredible collection. The presenters were really great too! The novelty and delicate cards are my absolute favorite. I almost shed a tear those last two minutes! My dad and I have always been card-givers and I feel very happy watching this, I will definitely come back and watch it many more times! 😊

@ncorp2668 Год назад

Both of these ladies carefully and delicately turning the pages is unintentional ASMR! I love the pop up cards and the ones with the animals. 😍

@user-jl9og1rx6i Год назад

The level of ingenuity and attention to details is so inspiring. I see a lot of humanity coming through their craftmanship. History exists to benefit from it, not to quarrel over. This is the most important part we don't seem to get from history. Thanks for sharing it. We need more of it each day.

@joethelion6016 Год назад

I collected 'scraps' as a kid. The vintage looking Victorian ones were gems

@GiselleMetcalf-Grosso Год назад

I would purchase a book that had all of these whimsical and fantastic images. The card with the rabbits playing ping pong was adorable, and the image of the beetles playing cards was quirky and brought a smile!

@dafydd56 Год назад

Henry Cole's first Christmas card shows more than a family feasting. Each side of the central image shows charity being given to the poor. It might even be a timely reminder that surfeiting at Christmas can be unhustified when the poor are ignored.

@emmakayisnotok7322 Год назад

with out fail, anytime i watch videos of this sort i find myself sobbing over how much im moved by the deep humaity of the past we are just as human now as we were then and just as much then as we are now i find often that people sometimes seem to think were so much better now than the people of the past but its like... look at the photos and the post cards and the letters look at the news papers and magazines we have always been deeply human and its just so fucking beautiful to me

@floraposteschild4184 Год назад

Besides the Crystal Palace, my favourite was the lobster card. Lobster was a traditional holiday dish, so I guess the lobsters were trying to get a little of their own back!

@grown-upactress4155 Год назад

I agree. My childhood Italian-American Christmases always included lobster.

@T5-635 Год назад

Each and every card is truly fascinating. Some are beautiful. I have a wedding invitation to my Great great Aunt's " get together " after the wedding. Its dated 1906. It opens out into a little book style. It has the initals of the bride and groom on a heart. I could spend hours looking at these Xmas cards. Uniqe in their own way. Thank you so much.

@newchapterasmr Год назад

Oh i’m in love with those special cards at the end, they’re absolutely stunning

@CraftRoulette Год назад

I really enjoyed this. As a card maker, it was illuminating.

@nikkitronic80 Год назад

I make my own Christmas cards to send to family and friends, have for years now. It’s such a joy to me to make a special card for a special someone. I just love to see the old Victorian cards and get ideas from them! So clever!

@r.b.8061 Год назад

This was jolly good fun - love the x-mas sweaters - very good presentation of a lovely theme.

@gigteevee6118 Год назад

It’s amazing how quickly the Christmas card thing has died out in the UK, only a few years ago they’d be dozens, now less then 10. When I was a kid in the 80’s it would have been 100’s

@PamelaCatherine24 Год назад

Beautiful cards and very unique. Really enjoyed this video. The last card with angels and nativity is stunning. Wish they would reproduce that one today!

@yvellebradley2502 Год назад

Absolutely gorgeous cards! Beautiful.💝

@oscarzoraldo4505 Год назад

The table card had me in stitches XD

@newchapterasmr Год назад

So interesting. All these videos make me wanna work in the V&A and I dont even live in the same country as it

@keropi193 Год назад

I wish I could be alive when historians are dissecting the "cute animals holding knives" trend on instagram

@ArtisticCeleste Год назад

I adore victorian greeting cards and holiday cards! They're such pretty little illustrations-my parents go on vacation to Pennsylvania during the summer every year, and at antique shops down there my mother likes to pick me up a few to give me at Chritmas-I keep them in a binder to reference sometimes since I like painting botanicals and there's a lot of pretty flowers to get inspired by :D

@prof.heinous191 Год назад

Many thanks V&A for this year's whacky electronic Christmas cards - you've saved me a fortune!

@tomvalveede6808 Год назад

There is a legend about Robins that is the reason for their being associated with Christmas: "On the first Christmas, as the Holy family were in a manger and it was cold, they had a small fire and a small, plain, brown bird kept the fire going by flapping it's wings. It's said that the Virgin Mary saw what the plain, brown bird had done to keep the Christ Child warm and she said to the little bird, "l've seen how you labored tonight to keep the fire going and in appreciation for your labours, as you now glow before the flames of the fire, you shall now always have the bright color of the fires glow on your breast in memory of your very special efforts to keep the Holy Babe warm!" The plain, brown bird then wore the orangey-red color of the fire on it's breast, from that Holy Night on. It would no longer be just a plain, brown bird but a bird with the brightly colored breast to recall the efforts of its ancestor on the first Christmas. ♥️

@OdeInWessex Год назад

That's so lovely, I have never heard that before - not in very secular England anyway. Wishing you a lovely Christmas for you and yours, wherever you are!

@tomvalveede6808 Год назад

@@OdeInWessex Thank you! So nice of you to reply! I'm in Kansas City. You have a happy Christmas also and many thanks for your great video! ♥️🌲🎅🌲🎉🎉🎉

@gwynwellliver4489 Год назад

These are fabulous, especially the kittens and the cayfish.

@JannKilc Год назад

I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who saves Christmas cards (no, not all of them just the extra special ones).

@EternalNyappy Год назад

I need to write "may your Christmas be cheese" to someone. Great comparison of the animals to llamas and sloths these days! Some trends just don't translate and have any reason. As a Finnish, Santa Claus is very important to me, so it was fun to see how he was portrayed like that in Victorian era, as he might have been a child punishing man dressed up as a goat here 😅 Such cute history lesson, thank you!

@Uapa500 Год назад

The Santa Claus with a red hat and a green coat looked like the meme man sitting with his cup in front of the computer and smiling!

@vamuseum Год назад

@@Uapa500 The original inspiration for Hide the Pain Harold

@SallyGreenaway Год назад

Absolutely spectacular. Thank you for this video

@butternut5385 Год назад

How gorgeous! I could look at these all day. Oh, to work at the V&A!

@Uapa500 Год назад

This is so beautiful and interesting! I can feel their excitement in handling such a prexious and delicate art 💖

@erosleroi7638 Год назад

Thanks for sharing such a magnificent collection!

@sylviajones4907 Год назад

Thank you for this video. Quite interesting. Loved the pun cards & that last 3D card. The railway one showing the light was beautiful.

@megansfo Год назад

What a wonderful collection of cards! Thank you! ❄🐦🌲

@grown-upactress4155 Год назад

The dryness of the 1st presenter is the best!

@dueschen_ Год назад

A truly wonderful video. The cards are detailed and beautiful. Love the animals and the ones with the Puddings. Thinking about starting a collection of my own. ^^ Merry Christmas!

@grown-upactress4155 Год назад

I make cards, thinking next year to do a Victorian theme!

@tietomallamo Год назад

amazing video! And the two assistant curator are super good and proud at sharing their knowledge

@jemandjemand2362 11 месяцев назад

the last one with those angels was super cool

@lisabarr6004 Год назад

Loved this, great presentation. New sub from 🇨🇦..and of course..Merry Christmas! 🎄⭐️💛 ;^)

@lindafarnes486 2 месяца назад

In Australia we have some freshwater lobsters called yabbies. At times they go for walks. Back in the late 60s and early 70s when a lot of homes still had the dread out door toilets (dunnies), and depending where you lived, a night time trip to the dunny could be a scary thing indeed, if the yabbies where on the move. Good times.😂

@caspence56 Год назад

Truly enjoyable and amazing. The card that was held up to the light was exquisite.

@beritbunny Год назад

These are all incredible and wonderful! I can only say I wish we’d seen more!!!

@krutibhavsar9534 Год назад

Charming!... Happy Christmas @V&A

@mc6348 Год назад

These were all wonderful to see. Thank you.

@gemstonesparkle7915 Год назад

Gosh, thank you! This is one of the prettiest videos I’ve seen this year.

@KSMP 11 месяцев назад

The one with the insects is my favorite! I'd love to have that in a frame on my wall ❤

@emailsmarkhall 6 месяцев назад

Now I'm a fan of history. Very well presented!

@nhatanhnguyen1192 Год назад

This is really inspiring to be honest! Thank for sharing such an amazing collection & stories 💌

@Backto5oh5 Год назад

Wonderful! If only it was longer 😍

@barbaram5214 Год назад

Really interesting! My favorite was the Crystal Palace card.

@r8chlletters Год назад

This was so delightful 🤍 thank you and Happy Christmas 🎄

@sliva7938 Год назад

Stunning. Thank you and Happy Christmas.

@jinju42 Год назад

0:20 😃isn't she clever to put the mic inside the Christmas stocking on her jumper 🧦🎄🧑‍🎄

@sophiatomlinson1231 Год назад

This is such a beautiful video, thank you so much!

@tania.creates Год назад

thank you for this - absolutely delightful

@suecox2308 8 месяцев назад

That was a lovely presentation--thank you for sharing these treasures with us.

@giovanni5063 11 месяцев назад

I have collected Christmas cards for years. Mostly the cards are the ones with illustration on the obverse and addressed on the reverse. I love Christmas but have many disappointing memories of years gone by. The images that I prefer are of children awakening to Christmas morning and discovering treats that have been bestowed by Santa.

@philipmurphy2 Год назад

Such a great collection of cards, Thanks and Merry Christmas 🎄

@tmackie1694 Год назад

Lovely video. Thank you, V&A.

@ladytron1724 Год назад

Absolutely beautiful 😍🎄🎅🏻 14:14

@anastasiabeaverhausen8220 Год назад

Thank you. That was delightful. Fascinating and informative.

@anniehague1554 Год назад

Magnificent presentation. Thank you. Best regards.

@themermaidstale5008 Год назад

Wow! So much eye candy to look at. It was a feast for the eyes.

@kindafoggy Год назад

Could be that the "just the cheese" reference was implying that the giver hoped that they receiver wouldn't get any nutty people stopping by for the holiday celebrations... as in all types of people at Christmas visit "from cheese to nuts"--- rather "just the cheese" ??

@mrs.h.l.g-b5814 Год назад

Delightful video. Thanks.

@eily_b Год назад

I wish there would be some of these cards reprinted. 🎅🎄

@judithdomangue9995 Год назад

So enjoyable to see!

@patriciagerresheim2500 Год назад

The sentiment of 'being just the cheese' seems to be somewhat equivalent of the 1920s saying of something being 'the bee's knees', i.e. the best thing going.

@nadineweiler7747 Год назад

I so enjoyed this video! Great education of a long time tradition…….

@katherinelangford981 Год назад

I'd 100% send out that children getting snapped at by giant lobsters card and put "Greetings of the season. Thinking of you." Update: just screen shot it. It'll be reworked and is going out next year.

@bettymaugeri7316 Год назад

Fascinating!

@Moraymakeup Год назад

Great video, very enjoyable to watch x

@ChristopherHemsworthCreative Год назад

This is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing this. However, all I could think throughout was: how did they actually MAKE these things back then? I understand how we would produce these types of products now with modern printing houses, and automated cutting beds, etc, but back then would they have created a die-cut to make all those intricately cut pieces? Where could one learn more about the production side of Victorian Christmas cards?

@shiao3990 Год назад

Really really really love it!

@eastcoastartist Год назад

Beautiful

@bighairedmom Год назад

I gasped at The Crystal Palace.

@Jynxxxycat Год назад

Please, PLEASE do a feature on Helena Jane Maguire postcards! Her work is popular to this day, and yet, her name remains largely unknown. She was an incredibly prolific artist, as well!