Christmas at the printing press
While many of us have yet to send (or even purchase!) this year’s Christmas cards, several early birds are probably already prepping next year’s batch.
A holiday tradition for more than 175 years, the first Christmas cards were created and sent in the social circles of early Victorian England around the 1840s. Believed to have been started by scholar and patron of the arts Sir Henry Cole, the tradition initially did not catch on for decades, especially in the United States.
The University of Dayton’s Marian Library, which holds the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of printed materials on the Virgin Mary, holds a vast collection of more than 24,000 Christmas cards, including several small press Christmas cards.
Sarah Burke Cahalan, director of the Marian Library, shares her thoughts on the collection and the small press cards she finds most special:
These particular cards are exceptional since they aren't standard mass-produced Christmas cards, but produced as part of the 20th-century revival of small press and letterpress printing. They were produced by small printing presses that would also have been producing very fine, limited edition books. They have been added to the collection bit by bit as they come available on the market or by donation.
This is a 1937 card by Mary Dudley Short, featuring a wood engraving printed at the Ditchling Press, part of an early 20th century artists’ community in England. (The wood engraving technique is related to the traditional woodcut, but updated for harder woods such as boxwood, allowing for more detail.) In this card, the baby Jesus pulls at his mother’s head scarf while she holds him steady on her lap. Are they perhaps playing a game of peek-a-boo? The Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft has posted some images of other Christmas cards by this artist, as well as some biographical information — always helpful for artists who changed names over the course of their lives!
Another wood engraving is from a design by Elizabeth Rivers. This Christmas card was printed in Dublin, perhaps around 1946 when the Cuala Press printed a book created by Rivers (It is number 96 on the list of cards printed by the press.). Like Ditchling Press, Cuala Press was associated with the arts and crafts movement; unlike other workshops connected with that movement, it was run by women and often featured women artists and authors. This card showcases Rivers’ fine detail — she fits the Virgin Mary, the baby Jesus, and three angels in under 2x3 inches. The card also features a Middle English Christmas carol about the Annunciation.
Jumping to another continent, and adding a little color, the Marian Library’s collections include a four-color woodcut of a thoughtful Virgin Mary. It was printed for Fran and Ted Lilienthal by Mary Grabhorn at Grabhorn Press, a San Francisco press established by her father and uncle. The press was active from circa 1920-1965. Although this Christmas card is undated, the style resembles Mary Grabhorn’s work in the 1950s. Another remarkable thing about this Christmas card is its size. Unfolded, it is a full folio sheet of approximately 14x19 inches. It is hard to imagine dropping such a card in the mail.
Mention should also be made of Gwen Raverat’s Christmas images. Though not cards, they are important examples of wood engraving by an innovator in that field. She returned frequently to the animals who shared the stable with the Holy Family, especially in 1931’s “The Cow’s Christmas,” where the infant is guarded by watchful cows. Though not originally produced for this purpose, these images remain so charming that they are often printed on Christmas cards today.
The Marian Library is also excited to share that we just added three more Cuala Press Christmas cards to the collection, seen here. The earliest (in the center) is from 1908.
The Marian Library also offers the University community a number of electronic cards for last-minute needs.