Greetings Cards

Welcome to the museum’s greetings card collection. There are cards for commemorating many occasions; Christmas and New Year, Valentines, birthdays and remembrance. There are also picture postcards of different parts of Cornish life, from jobs such as mining to religion, and the more peculiar – shipwrecks.

Greetings cards became popular during the Victorian era, with the improved technology of the printing press making it easier and faster for companies to print out large numbers of cards. The popularity of the printing press grew, with the introduction of the penny post, making the cards easier to send. By 1914 postcards alone were being produced in their billions. They were a way of communicating emotions of love, friendship and happiness through floriography (communication through flowers) on the designs to the heartfelt messages inside. As one Victorian periodical exclaims;

“perhaps there is nothing which years has retained its popularity more than the complementary card. It is used for all seasons and occasions”

The Girls’ own paper, 1894

Christmas cards

Christmas cards were one of the most popular choices of greetings cards during the Victorian era, and sometimes combined messages of the new year such as this one;

• 

• 

The first Christmas card was commissioned in 1843 with just 1000 copies made. The money made from the cards was used to improve children’s literacy. Good will to others became a popular theme for Christmas cards. During the Victorian era, Christmas cards were sold in their millions.

The Victorian middle class used Christmas cards as a form of art in the home, placing the cards on display where visitors would be able to see them. They were sent with messages of friendship, good wishes and kindness. As one Victorian periodical proclaims;

‘a card intended for friendly greeting at the approaching season of festivity’

Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle, 1943

Victorian Christmas cards have been linked with the Victorian belief in solar mythology. This means that traditional images on Christmas cards such as robins were meant to reflect the redness and shape of the sun.

Other meanings hidden within the cards are the flowers. During the Victorian era and early 1900s, floriography was a popular way of showing emotion. Floriography is communication through flowers, each flower, colour and amount have a different meaning from friendship to love and sympathy. Flowers such as snowdrops appeared on Christmas cards, symbolising hope and rebirth, making them the perfect flower to convey messages of Christmas and New Year.

• 

• 

The meaning of the roses on this card show the emotions of the sender to the recipient. The yellow rose represents friendship and joy, and the pink rose on the other side of the card means gratitude and appreciation.

Whereas on this card, the forget-me-nots represent true love, and the snow drops represent hope.

Some messages and sentiments ranged from religious, to wishes of good luck for the year ahead:

• 

• 

In the museums collection, a popular theme for Christmas cards were messages of remembrance;

• 

• 

• 

• 

Other Christmas cards depicted Christmas scenes such as three dimensional card:

• 

• 

The Christmas tree in this card has small details from flags such as Britain and the United States to horses and shoes. Pink roses meaning gratitude can also be seen in the middle of the tree.

There are also more unusual cards in the collection such as these;

• 

• 

• 

Card production

Christmas cards were some of the most popular type of greetings cards sent. With this increased popularity in greetings cards, production of the cards rose to their millions, in some cases billions, and card companies grew.

One famous card company during this time of the Victorian and early 1900s, was Raphael Tuck & Sons. Christmas cards were the main production for Raphael Tuck & Sons, although they produced cards for many different occasions. By 1891 they were known as one of the largest greeting card printer companies in the world.

Raphael Tuck & Sons were not just known for their greeting’s cards, but their Christmas card competitions. Every year the company would hold a competition, for the best artists to design a Christmas card. The favourites would then be displayed in a gallery. The first competition was held in 1880, the first prize was £100 (about £9886 today) to the winner Alice Squire. Fourteen runner ups were also chosen who received £25 each (about £2471 today).

These card competitions went on into the 1900s, and were widely commented on, such as this newspaper’s opinion of Rapheal Tuck’s competition idea;

“we confess we have nothing but trade to offer him for the boldness and originality of the scheme”

Saturday Review of politics, Literature, Science and Art, 1880

Women played a large role in card production in Raphael Tuck & Sons, in 1900, the head designers and artists were women. They had the final say on which designs would make it onto the greetings cards. In fact women were widely regarded in card design and card production, with one magazine claiming;

“it is indisputable that women excel in such designs”

Strand Magazine, 1891

Birthday cards

• 

Sending well wishes on a birthday became a popular choice for Victorians, one Victorian newspaper dates the origins of the designs and styles common in a Victorian birthday card to around the 1810s.

Birthday cards had a similar style to other greetings cards with the use of flowers and delicate materials. But what made the birthday card stand out, was the use of poetry. The cards were known in Victorian society for their poetry expressing emotions of well wishes.

• 

• 

Other birthday cards were elaborate in design as well as containing poetry as this card shows, the delicate card opening out in stages to reveal a birthday poem;

• 

• 

• 

Handmade birthday cards were a popular choice with magazines and newspapers giving advice on the best way to decorate a birthday card such as with dried flora and fauna like this magazine suggests;

“any small spare bits of flowers may be utilized for birthday cards, arranged with bits of dried grass and coloured leaves on the card”

Myra’s Journal of Dress and Fashion, 1897.

Remembrance – greetings during conflict

During the First World War, postcards were a form of communication widely used between soldiers and civilians. Postcards during this time were sent for different reasons, from messages of love to family members, to passing on information. It only took a few days for cards to be delivered to and from the front lines making them a quick way to communicate.

• 

• 

• 

Silk embroidered postcards were a popular choice, but they were expensive to buy. In this postcard (right), the sender promises to send a silk embroidered postcard;

A popular choice of silk emboidered postcard was one like this; where the silk served as an envelope, and a small card containing a message could be put inside the postcard;

• 

• 

Many of the postcards contained patriotic images such as this one with the flags of Belgium, Britain and France, known as the Allies, and flowers, with a message of “God be with you” in a smaller size at the top and “till we meet again” in a larger size at the bottom and a small card inside reading “Merry Christmas”:

Most of the silk embroidered postcards in the museum are ones with messages to family members from brother-in-laws, to sons and fathers. Some had the messages embroidered on the front of the postcards such as these;

• 

• 

• 

Other types of cards were sent for occasions such as Christmas like this one;

• 

Other types of silk postcards were created to remember the events that happened during the war. This postcard in the museums collection is part of a series of postcards remembering churches and other landmarks destroyed by the war across France. By using silk, when the card is moved, the orange silk has a ripple effect making the fire and smoke appear to be moving.

How and who made the cards remains debated, with some believing they were handmade by French and Belgian women in order to raise money, and others think that they were made by card companies on a larger production scale.

Cornish postcards

Postcards were meant to be cheap, informal and a quick form of communication and removed the need for an envelope and in the beginning, a separate stamp. Postcards were much like text messages of their day, the etiquette of writing a letter did not apply to a postcard. This made them informal and a more direct way of communication. They were also collector’s items, with big card companies such as Raphael Tuck & Sons producing postcards specifically for collectors.

Postcards when they were first introduced in 1870, had a slightly different purpose to how they might be used today. The first forms of postcard were plain pieces of card, with a stamp already printed. They had two sides, one side was for the address and the other for the senders message. The museum has one of these early versions of the postcard in its collection, postmarked 1876;

• 

• 

The postcard worked well, but a new version of the greeting card was becoming popular; the picture postcard.

In 1894, postcards were allowed to be produced by publishers with a picture on the front, but the message had to go around the corners of the picture, as the back of the postcard could only contain the address.

By 1902 the senders message could be written on the same side as the address leaving the front of the card for the picture. It was during the Edwardian era that sending and collecting postcards became its most popular. In Cornwall, there were distinct topics of picture postcards that were popular to send or collect during the Victorian era and early 1900s.

Shipwrecks

Postcards are an insight into the lives of people in and around Cornwall, with the handwritten messages revealing day to day tasks and events. One peculiar topic popular that proved popular, was pictures of shipwrecks. The museum collection alone holds around 20 postcards of shipwrecks.

• 

• 

---

• 

• 

The messages written on the back of the postcards that were sent, hint at why shipwrecks were a popular postcard choice, with some people using the postcards as news, reporting on the wreck, and other people used the postcards as a quick way of communicating that had no relevance to the picture on the front of the card;

---

Churches

Other postcards that were popular around Cornwall, were postcards with images of trade such as fishing and farming, to images of churches and mines. As postcards were a popular way of communicating during the late Victorian era and early 1900s, the topics on the front of these postcards show how work and religion were deeply valued in Cornwall at that time, as they were specifically chosen to photograph and share with other people.

• 

• 

• 

Farming

• 

• 

• 

Mining

• 

• 

Romance

There are several different types of romantic cards from Valentines, to wedding anniversaries. The oldest printed Valentines card is said to be made in 1797, but it was the Victorians who made sending and receiving Valentines cards through the post popular. It was not just romantic love that was expressed in Valentines cards, but expressions of love between friends and family. Ideas around using greeting cards as a way to celebrate and acknowledge wedding anniversaries were emerging in Victorian society with one newspaper saying;

‘in the case of some friends of a friend of mine… who received on the anniversary of their marriage… their wedding cards of forty years ago! Is this not a charming notion? Quite a valuable suggestion for the designers of these “greetings”‘

‘Chitchat and criticism’, Trewman’s exeter flying post, 4th January 1871.

Many of the Valentines cards and other romantic style greetings cards were made from delicate material and many in the museums collection have elaborate designs such as this Valentines Day card;

Some of the designs of romantic greeting cards are different to what might appear in a card shop today, such as this wardrobe shaped greeting card;

• 

• 

• 

The wardrobe opens out to reveal the poem True Love alongside a picture of two people outside a church, suggesting the card was for a wedding or anniversary. On the back of the card there are motifs of love such as cupid sitting on top of the oval. Designs including churches can be seen in other romantic cards such as this one;

Poetry was common in romantic greeting cards, such as this card proposing marriage through poetry;

This one sided greeting card has a romantic poem to propose marriage and is surrounded by romantic images such as the swans which symbolise love and devotion. The style of card with the pillars and arch framing the poem, were design styles used as an example in a Victorian magazine as a good style of art for greeting cards. Other cards had shorter romantic poetry;

This greeting card with the phrase ‘memories sweet’ and depicting a church in the background suggests the romantic tone of the card. This card more than likely would have had colour, with the pink on the flowers faded but visible. This style of card with colour added to the raised images such as the flowers in this card, was a popular choice for greeting cards until well into the 1900s.

By Tiegan Rose Lorrimer-Roberts, Placement student, MA Heritage Theory and Practice at University of Plymouth.