Christmas & other Greetings Cards.- An extensive and excellent collection, comprising almost 300 loose cards, cut-outs, envelopes and pictorial acetates, mostly mid- to late-Victorian period, designs include multiple examples of elaborate cut paper and occasionally silk overlays often embossed and heightened in gilt or silver with chromolithographed inlays, often floral, a few printed on silk, sometimes with manuscript additions, several also in their original paper lace envelopes; a chromolithographed German fold-out Fairy Tale scene; a chromolithographed trifold Christmas card with stand; 7 chromolithographed folding calendars/almanacks in fan format including The Rose Almanack...1860 in original pierced and embossed envelope; a floral 'bouquet' with pop-up roses; a Season's Greetings card with 3 pop-up sailing boats; a small fold-out woodland scene; a personal, seemingly hand-made card with a humorously insulting hidden illustration; chromolithographed postcards and similar including botanical and sporting scenes; numerous early 20th century colour-printed cut-out figures of children playing etc.; 20 printed business cards including several for Italian businesses, and a few small bundles of contemporary envelopes including decoratively embossed examples, many still in the original embossed wrap-arounds as issued, various sizes, largest card c.205 x 135 mm., [later 19th to early 20th century] (c.300). *** A wonderful insight into the Victorian enthusiasm for sending and receiving increasingly elaborate cards for special occasions. The tradition largely began with Valentine cards, hand-written or sometimes printed expressions of endearment lavishly embellished with paper lace and fancy trimmings, many examples of which are present in this collection; the craft eventually and inevitably became something of an industry, reaching a peak of technical complexity with those produced by the German factories which dominated the market in the later 19th century, but lacked much of the charm of these earlier examples.
Christmas & other Greetings Cards.- An extensive and excellent collection, comprising almost 300 loose cards, cut-outs, envelopes and pictorial acetates, mostly mid- to late-Victorian period, designs include multiple examples of elaborate cut paper and occasionally silk overlays often embossed and heightened in gilt or silver with chromolithographed inlays, often floral, a few printed on silk, sometimes with manuscript additions, several also in their original paper lace envelopes; a chromolithographed German fold-out Fairy Tale scene; a chromolithographed trifold Christmas card with stand; 7 chromolithographed folding calendars/almanacks in fan format including The Rose Almanack...1860 in original pierced and embossed envelope; a floral 'bouquet' with pop-up roses; a Season's Greetings card with 3 pop-up sailing boats; a small fold-out woodland scene; a personal, seemingly hand-made card with a humorously insulting hidden illustration; chromolithographed postcards and similar including botanical and sporting scenes; numerous early 20th century colour-printed cut-out figures of children playing etc.; 20 printed business cards including several for Italian businesses, and a few small bundles of contemporary envelopes including decoratively embossed examples, many still in the original embossed wrap-arounds as issued, various sizes, largest card c.205 x 135 mm., [later 19th to early 20th century] (c.300). *** A wonderful insight into the Victorian enthusiasm for sending and receiving increasingly elaborate cards for special occasions. The tradition largely began with Valentine cards, hand-written or sometimes printed expressions of endearment lavishly embellished with paper lace and fancy trimmings, many examples of which are present in this collection; the craft eventually and inevitably became something of an industry, reaching a peak of technical complexity with those produced by the German factories which dominated the market in the later 19th century, but lacked much of the charm of these earlier examples.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
