In London 1843, John Callcott Horsley (1817 – 1903) designed the very first Christmas and New Year’s card at the request of his friend Sir Henry Cole (the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum). An edition of 1,000 of these Christmas cards were printed in 1843 and placed on sale. The cards were lithographed on stiff cardboard (roughly 13 centimetres by 7 centimetres) in dark sepia and then carefully hand coloured. They sold for one shilling each (today that would be roughly $4.20 AUD).
