Seasons' Salutations!
Nov 14, 2013 11:02:38 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2013 11:02:38 GMT -5
Seasons' greetings from kleines c. At this time of year, I always spend some time thinking about the emergence of Christmas, if only because I have to send a lot of Christmas cards and presents around the world. The commercialisation of Christmas, which many today consider a bane of modern life, in fact has its origins in the 1840s. Henry Cole sent the first Christmas card (now in the Word & Image department of the V&A) in 1843.
V&A - Christmas card - Sir Henry Cole ; designed by J.C. Horsley - 1843
Prince Albert introduced various German Christmas traditions into England in the 1840s, including the decorated Christmas tree (although it was originally an English cleric, St Boniface, who ‘founded’ the idea of a Christmas tree and carried it to the Germans, along with the Gospel, in the 8th century AD/CE). An increasingly technologically advanced publishing industry began at this time to exploit the fact that people were prepared to spend a few more pennies at Christmas. Until the 1840s spring had been the peak season of book production. With the emergence of our modern idea of Christmas, October (i.e. the run-up to Christmas) became the peak season in the publishing calendar (as is still the case today).
While the well-to-do had always bought gift-books and keepsakes at Christmas, in the 1840s publishers were able to produce cheaper special Christmas reading material for the aspiring middle classes - Christmas supplements and special editions of serials and magazines. Authors, too, developed an acute sense of a new Christmas market. Charles Dickens wrote stories for special Christmas editions of magazines such as 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round'. He published 'A Christmas Carol' in 1843. By the 1870s the Christmas market was firmly established and people from all walks of life had a wider choice of new Christmas texts to read.
V&A - What the Victorians Read at Christmas
Any recommendations for this coming Christmas?
V&A - Christmas card - Sir Henry Cole ; designed by J.C. Horsley - 1843
Prince Albert introduced various German Christmas traditions into England in the 1840s, including the decorated Christmas tree (although it was originally an English cleric, St Boniface, who ‘founded’ the idea of a Christmas tree and carried it to the Germans, along with the Gospel, in the 8th century AD/CE). An increasingly technologically advanced publishing industry began at this time to exploit the fact that people were prepared to spend a few more pennies at Christmas. Until the 1840s spring had been the peak season of book production. With the emergence of our modern idea of Christmas, October (i.e. the run-up to Christmas) became the peak season in the publishing calendar (as is still the case today).
While the well-to-do had always bought gift-books and keepsakes at Christmas, in the 1840s publishers were able to produce cheaper special Christmas reading material for the aspiring middle classes - Christmas supplements and special editions of serials and magazines. Authors, too, developed an acute sense of a new Christmas market. Charles Dickens wrote stories for special Christmas editions of magazines such as 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round'. He published 'A Christmas Carol' in 1843. By the 1870s the Christmas market was firmly established and people from all walks of life had a wider choice of new Christmas texts to read.
V&A - What the Victorians Read at Christmas
Any recommendations for this coming Christmas?
