Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1905 — CHRISTMAS CARDS. [ARTICLE]

CHRISTMAS CARDS.

W. A. Uobaon, R. A., It la Claimed, Wu Their Originator. Until now most people who took an interest In the matter would have credited either the late Sir Henry Cole or J. C. Horsley, R. A., with the production of the first Christmas card, and they would have put the date down as 1846. But a new claimant Is now put forward, the late W. A. Dobson, R. A., and his claim is supported with circumstantial detail. The birth of the Christmas card la put back two years, to 1844. Mr. Dobson was a lonely young man, who one day conceived the Idea of acknowledging the kindness of a friend by sending him a picture Illustrative of the festive season—a cheerful family group surrounded by the familiar Christmas accessories. The distant friend was delighted, showed It to other friends, and Mr.

Dobson was encouraged the following year to secure the aid of the local lithographer. Then came imitators one after another until ten years later the business man stepped tn to make money out of what was originally a work of love. But the ambitions Christmas cards of today are a long remove from the primitive Father Christmases and Kobin Redbreasts of sixty years ago.— London Chronicle.