The first commercial Christmas card appeared in December 1843, when Sir Henry Cole, director of the Victorian and Albert Museum in London, England, realized that he had neglected to send Christmas letters to his many friends and relatives.

So he decided to ask a well-known artist, John Calcoot Horsley, to design a colorful greeting card, which he could then send to everyone. This card depicted an affluent Victorian family at home sipping wine as they wished everyone a, “Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

This card was not a success since it cost a shilling, which was far too expensive for the public to buy. Not until much later in the century did Christmas cards become popular with everyone, when the development of color printing allowed cards to be produced in great variety and at very reasonable prices.

Early Christmas cards were not religious at all, and they showed all sorts of subjects in their designs. Horse racing cards appealed in particular to the upper and upper-middle classes of the country, who would attend Christmas races and who owned homes in the countryside, where they would spend the Christmas holiday.

The cards would be printed by the best manufacturer of Christmas cards in the country, namely the firm of De La Rue & Co. of London, which is best known today as the printer of the country’s banknotes.

Some of the most well-known artists of the time, who were members of the auspicious Royal Academy, would illustrate these lovely cards. These artists of repute would include G.D. Leslie, RA; J.C. Herbert, RA; W.T. Yeames, RA; W.C.T. Dobson, RA.; and the foremost of all, Henry Stacy Marks, RA.

Marks had a lucky combination of interests–a love of horses and a love of painting–and was a well-known designer of Christmas cards. One of his great pleasures was visiting horse races around the country, and he produced charming studies of horses with the utmost directness and simplicity, which were the hallmarks of his style.

In 1882, Punch magazine noted, “Stacy Marks is to the front with his show, and all his Christmas cards are trumps.” Some of his horse racing Christmas cards sold as many as 25,000 copies.

Regular Christmas race meets were held at New-market, Doncaster, York, Chester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Salisbury, and Croydon. Though stake money mounted in value over the years, the actual prize took the form of an ornamental silver bell or a loving cup–the precursor of the stylized cup, which is competed for in subsequent meetings of modern times.

But in the majority of such early Christmas meetings the rivalry took the form of matches between individuals riding their own horses to settle purely personal wagers. Side bets between the respective competitors often were to exceed the prize money itself.

By the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, the actual prizes took the form of plates and cups, where goldsmiths created remarkably solid examples of race horses. Many were known as Queen’s Plates, which served to keep green the memory of the Queen herself.

It’s been said that had these unique Christmas horse cards been ignored as subjects, then many of the most beautiful and charming collectors’ items would not exist today. So many of these cards were produced that it’s possible to build up an extensive collection.

Anyone could easily spend a lifetime collecting such sets of them, and there are no limits to the enjoyment, that they give to those who collect them today.

David Watkins