The idea to create a postcard with a message to send to all our friends and acquaintances came to the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London - Henry Cole. He received heaps of correspondence daily, and in England it was considered especially rude not to reply to everyone. So he turned to his friend and artist John Horsley. The artist drew a triptych with beautiful scenes and a common greeting: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." It was later printed on cardboard and thus allowed to be personalized. John Cole ordered 40 cards for himself to distribute to his loved ones. Today, only 12 pieces of the original card are preserved in private collections, which have an extremely high value today.
The first New Year's card was sent in our contry in 1882, and the first Christmas card, three years later. The tradition was introduced by Knyaz Ferdinand I, who became the first Bulgarian owner of such a greeting card. In Plovdiv, data on greeting cards appeared at the end of the XIX century. Booksellers imported them mainly from Vienna and Paris. The new fashion quickly became established and at the beginning of the last century they became an integral part of the holidays.
Initially, they were inscribed on the picture, not on its back, and no one paid attention to foreign inscriptions, but with the expansion of the market, people began to look for greeting cards in Bulgarian. The booksellers outwitted and began to Bulgarianize the imported goods - they simply put an inscription "Честито Рождество Христово" under the picture and the card became Bulgarian.
Domestic production appeared only after 1910, and in the 1930s it almost replaced a large part of the pictures imported from abroad.
The inscriptions were usually banal - a wish for a happy holiday, health, success, fulfillment of all wishes. One of the rare exceptions was a poetic outburst in 1912.
Nowadays, the personalization of this Christmas detail is almost forgotten and most often we share virtual greetings on social media, but still especially handmade cards bring great joy to the recipient and express the personal attitude and attention of the sender. Whether you choose to give in person, send by mail, or share online, be sure to wish your loved ones health, happiness and prosperity in the new year.
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