---
title: The First Printed Christmas Card
author: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16778/the-first-printed-christmas-card/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2024-12-04
---

# The First Printed Christmas Card

_Authored by Victoria and Albert Museum, London_

## Image File

[![The First Printed Christmas Card](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/16778.png)](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/16778.png)

## Image Caption

The first printed Christmas card, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882) and drawn by John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) in 1843. One thousand copies of the card were printed.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

*Original source note on usage:*

*'V&A Owned Content' in which the V&A owns copyright (or related rights) may be used free of charge for non-commercial purposes. The V&A considers non-commercial use to be any use that is not intended for or directed towards commercial advantage of monetary compensation.*

## Cite This Work

### APA
London, V. a. A. M. (2022, December 05). The First Printed Christmas Card. *World History Encyclopedia*. <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16778/the-first-printed-christmas-card/>
### Chicago
London, Victoria and Albert Museum,. "The First Printed Christmas Card." *World History Encyclopedia*, December 05, 2022. <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16778/the-first-printed-christmas-card/>.
### MLA
London, Victoria and Albert Museum,. "The First Printed Christmas Card." *World History Encyclopedia*, 05 Dec 2022, <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/16778/the-first-printed-christmas-card/>.

## License & Copyright

[Original image](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-first-christmas-card) by **Victoria and Albert Museum, London**. Submitted by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/ "User Page: Mark Cartwright"), published on 05 December 2022. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.