First ever commercially printed ‘scandalous’ Christmas card is up for sale

first commercially printed Christmas card is up for sale — a merry Victorian-era scene that scandalized some who deunced it as humbug when it first appeared in 1843. card, being sold online starting Friday through a consortium run by Marvin Getman, a Boston-based dealer in rare books and manuscripts, depicts an English family toasting recipient with glasses of red wine.

‘Scandalous’ Christmas card

“A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You,” it res. But for teetotalers — and re were plenty of those in 19th century — imry included a bit too much holiday cheer: In foreground, a young girl is pictured taking a sip from an ult’s glass.

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(Im Credits: AP)

That didn’t sit well at time with puritanical Temperance Society, which kicked up such a fuss it took three years before ar Christmas card was produced.

“y were quite distressed that in this ‘scandalous’ picture y h children toasting with a glass of wine along with ults. y h a campaign to censor and suppress it,” said Justin Schiller, founder and president of Kingston, New York-based Battledore Ltd., a dealer in antiquarian books who is selling card.

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Getman, whose broker h shifted online before coronavirus pandemic disrupted tritional touring book fairs, said hand-colored lithograph is believed to have been a salesperson’s sample. Only 1,000 copies were printed and sold for a shilling apiece, and experts believe fewer than 30 have survived, he said.

card, intended to double as a greeting for Christmas and New Year’s Day, was designed by painter and illustrator John Callcott Horsley at suggestion of Sir Henry Cole, a British civil servant and inventor who founded Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Cole is widely credited with starting trition of sending holiday cards, a multimillion-dollar industry today.

It’s believed to have gone on sale in same week in December 1843 that Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” first was published. Christie’s auction house in London also is selling one of rare cards and says it expects item to fetch between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds ($6,725 to $10,800.)

Also being sold by Boston consortium is “Santa Claus,” a handwritten poem by Emily Dickinson about jolly old elf. Parental warning: Dickinson’s take is a little bleak for youngsters.

“She’s basically saying Santa Claus has died, but children shouldn’t feel bly because he’s with angels in Heaven,” Schiller said.

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(Im Credits: AP)