Xmas Collection

First Christmas Card by Sir Henry Cole and John Horsley
Reputedly the first Christmas card, this was designed by Horsley in 1843, and a coloured version sent out by Sir Henry Cole in 1846

The Allies of Santa Claus by Mabel Lucie Attwell
Two little girls slumber on a window sill as the elvish helpers of Father Christmasm sprinkle fairy dust in order that he may deliver presents. Date: 1919

He was Jack Frost by Helen Jacobs
Enchanting illustration featuring a glistening Jack Frost lecturing a group of snowdrop fairies or pixies in a snow covered woodland glade

In the Days of Dickens by Cecil Aldin
A coach and horses laden with jovial travellers looking very much like the Pickwick Club drive into a village to stop by a handsome looking coaching inn

Six owl bellringers on a Christmas card. Date: circa 1890s

Sharing Rations - The Troopers Christmas-Box
A British trooper shares his Christmas rations with his horse on the Western Front during WWI. 1916

Ely Cathedral in the snow by Ernest Uden
Ely Cathedral pictured in the snow

Christmas card, Rabbit and robin. 20th century

Robin Redbreast
Poem by M. Nightingale about the robin, featuring a lovely decoration by Gladys M. Rees. Date: 1939

Illustrated London News Christmas number cover, 1904
A beautiful fairy with wings, looks thoughtful as she gazes out to the sea and starry sky. Front cover of The Illustrated London News Christmas Number 1904. Date: 1904

Suffragettes - Christmas Dinner in Holloway by Lawson Wood
Four portly prison officers and policemen force feed a handcuffed suffragette Christmas pudding from the police buffet trolley in Holloway Prison. Date: 1912

Hills. Christmas Is Coming. Cecil Aldin. 1898. jpg
Illustration by Cecil Aldin depicting a kindly Father Christmas reciting the traditional song, " Christmas is Coming, the Goose is getting Fat" to a gaggle of obviously dim geese

Art deco illustration for Christmas Card, 1920s
Art deco illustration fro Christmas Card, 1920s 1920s

Fancy Dress Ball, Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, 2 December 1920. Date: 1920

Coach and horses in the snow on a Christmas card. Date: circa 1910s

Coldstream Guards on a Christmas and New Year card, changing sentry duty in the snow. Date: circa 1890s

Cats enjoying a party on a Christmas card
A family of cats enjoying a party on a Christmas card, by Louis Wain. Date: circa 1900s

Fat Geese! by Lawson Wood
A cheeky young lad chuckles to himself after placing a sign for fattened geese on the posterior of a rather plump lady who is herself choosing which goose to buy for her Christmas dinner. Date: 1909

The Land of Christmas Plays by Pauline Baynes
Charming illustration showing a land populated by all the characters from Christmas plays and pantomimes including Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Robinson Crusoe

Father Christmas parachuting out of a plane
Father Christmas jumps out of an aeroplane using a parachute onto snowy rooftops. Who needs reindeer to deliver presents in the modern age? Date: 1932

Owl and foxes carrying food on a Christmas card
An owl and three foxes carrying a roast bird, cutlery and holly through the snow on a Christmas card. Date: circa 1890s

Fortnum & Masons Christmas Box for soldiers, WW1
Advertisement for quintessential London department store, Fortnum & Mason, in particular their Thirty Shilling Xmas Box of selected provisions which could be sent to the front for lucky soldiers

Christmas Crackers 1907
Tom Smith Christmas crackers Louis Wains Cats 1907 Date: 1907

Winter Circle by Vernon Ward
Swans and ducks swim together in a pond, watched by gulls who stand in the snow

York Minster in winter by Ernest Uden
The towers of York Minster cathedral viewed by Bootham Bar, from beyond the citys walls

A Little Shy by Muriel Dawson
A little girl in a blue coat and hat, crouches down in the snow, encouraging a robin to eat crumbs from her gloved hands

Santa caught by the tax inspector by H. M. Bateman
A rather surprised looking Father Christmas, who has arrived at the house of a tax inspector to innocently deliver toys on Christmas Eve, finds himself caught by a vigilant tax inspector. H.M

Overtime at a Christmas cracker factory by William Heath Rob
Colour illustration by William Heath Robinson depicting one of his usual contraptions designed to solve the increase in demand for Christmas crackers during the forthcoming festive season

Christmas card, Shakespearean jesters
Christmas Card - May you be merry and lack nothing (based on a quotation from Shakespeares Henry IV Part 2) - two medieval jesters dancing. circa 1935

Westminster Bridge and Parliament on a Christmas card
Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, with Big Ben, inside a Christmas card from Stanley Baldwin (at that time British Prime Minister). (2 of 2) Date: 1928

Illustrated London News Christmas Number 1906
Front cover of The Illustrated London News Christmas Number 1906 with an illustration of a young girl trying to force feed her terrier dog Christmas pudding. Date: 1906

Butterflies and flowers on a palette-shaped Christmas card
Butterflies and flowers with a snow scene on a palette-shaped Christmas card. Date: circa 1890s

Christmas card in the shape of a banjo. circa 1890s

Worlds Largest Living Christmas Tree - Wilmington
Worlds Largest Living Christmas Tree - Hilton Park, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. A three hundred year old Live Oak tree lighted with 4000 bulbs - a popular toursit attraction in Wilmington

Winter Plumage by Vernon Ward
A group of waterfowl on a lake in a London park including a tufted duck, Mallard, Pintail and Sheldrake

Family Tree by Vernon Ward
A group of tufted ducks huddle together on the lake in St. Jamess Park in London during the winter

Looking Up the Chimney by Muriel Dawson
A little child peers up the chimney, wondering how Father Christmas is going to make his descent and fill the expectantly hung stockings while the fire is lit

A box of Christmas Eve crackers
A lovely box of Christmas crackers from the 1920s, with the contents intact and the box lid featuring a bright and jolly picture of Father Christmas being helped to cross the road by a policeman

Christmas Eve - about 1460 by Pauline Baynes
Christmas Eve, as celebrated in 1460 with children bringing in holly and the Yule Log to be lit on Christmas Day, and other joining in a last minute carol practice

Christmas Cookery C1905
Preparing the Christmas dinner for all the family, not forgetting the kitten and the Household Gnome

Wwi / Xmas Truce / 1914
English & German troops fraternising on Christmas Day, chasing a hare and playing a football match (the German team won)

Victorian Greeting Card - Owls with Lantern
Two owls standing with a lantern. Date: circa 1890

Four frogs ice skating on a Christmas card
Four frogs ice skating hand in hand on a Christmas card, with comic verse below. circa 1890s

Coach and horses in the snow on a Christmas card. circa 1890s

First Authenticated Christmas Tree - Strasbourg
Christmas Tree in History and Legend: The Earliest Authenticated Christmas Tree in Strasbourg (at this time in Germany). A merchant of Strasburg (a Mr Forbes)

What Now?
Bonzo, the little dog created by George Studdy in The Sketch magazine during the 1920s finds himself in a frosty predicament

Saffron Walden by Madge Howard
Saffron Walden in Essex, East Anglia, UK, featuring a street of half-timbered houses with pageting (the decorative plaster work typical of the region) covered with snow on a peaceful starry evening

Stagecoach and horses on an oval Christmas card
Stagecoach and horses travelling through the snow at night on an oval Christmas card. Date: circa 1890s

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