Last year on Friday I shared Snowmen postcards.
This year I thought I'd share some Christmas postcards with Victorian designs.
These are from the Darling and Company, Seattle Postcard Book.
"A variety of British postal changes in the 1890s changed the demand for picture postcards from a trickle to a deluge. In the next 30 years countless images were printed on billions of postcards. Photography and art were both utilized and every occasion, historical incident, fad, eccentricity, aspect of knowledge, or enthusiasm was pictured on a postcard. Millions of people collected postcards, which led to an even greater demand. Holidays were also popular subjects for postcards, Christmas chief among them.
Because of the enormous demand for art, and the low cost of printing a postcard, publishers were not very discriminating. They frequently allowed poor work to be printed, and seemingly were indifferent to the relevance of the illustrations to the theme at hand. Inapropos subjects for Christmas such as horses, sailboats, or farm animals were common. Fortunately, excellence was also common, and artist's flights of fancy were given free rein."
Thank you to the lovely Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday.
Wishing YOU well, much joy and a fun filled weekend.
6 comments:
as also seen with Beth's card, the children always seem to be so well dressed!
I have seen some rather strange images that have nothing to do with Christmas on some cards.
Victoriana is noted for its happy, smiling, well-fed and well-dressed children. Yet Victorian England had no child labour laws and the children of the poor led horrific lives. The images that a society projects don't necessarily reflect the truth of its existence. Still true today, of course, concerning our own society and others.
I had no idea of this bit of postal history ... and now I understand why some of the older Christmas postcards I've seen don't really make sense! But I love them anyway.
I love the first card with poinsettias. I'm surprised on how those reds are actually just leaves and the small yellow dots in the center are the only flower part. I used to believe for the longest time that the reds are the actual flowers!
Lovely Victorian images!
The poinsettias are so pretty. They always seem so cheerful with their bright red color...although now I see them in pastels, too.
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