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

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: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/study-rooms#prints-and-drawings-study-room

Find out more about the first Christmas card and Victorian Christmas traditions:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-first-christmas-card
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/victorian-christmas-traditions

Discover more in our Print collection: https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/print

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