Nowadays there’s a card for just about every occasion. The average person is estimated to send an astonishing 31 cards a year in the UK alone. This number seems abnormally high, especially if we consider the innate ability of most men to forget anniversaries, birthdays and pretty much any other important date. However, if we consider that eighty-five percent of cards are bought and sent by women, the figure maybe doesn’t seem so crazy. Sending and receiving cards on special occasions is now ingrained in our culture, but where and when did it all start, and how has it developed? Let’s take the journey through the evolution of the greetings card.
In the beginning
The starting scene for the greetings card is aligned with the first evidence of the written language. We know of cavemen scratching symbols on the inside of caves, but possibly more connected with the card is the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets some 3000 years BC.
There’s no real evidence to suggest these were in fact the first type of greeting card, but they were passed on for others to read, and contained personal messages in the same way cards do.
Write like an Egyptian
The first real evidence of personalised cards as we know them lies with the Egyptians. During their New Year celebrations, presents were exchanged to observe new life cycles in nature and these were often complimented with personalised messages written on papyrus, as shown below.
Chinese Origin
Evidence suggests that ancient China was also starting this trend. Cards were in fact sent to ward off the wild beast in Chinese legend called Nian. Nian, which now means year in Chinese, was believed to be a monster that attacked and killed villagers at the close of each year. Early day fireworks were used in an attempt to ward off the beast, and messages of goodwill were exchanged to promote good luck in the New Year. So, it is the New Year card; born out of Chinese mythological monsters and Egyptian beliefs about nature’s life cycles – that can be declared as the predecessor of all cards.
The Invention of Paper
Over time many civilisations started to use a wide variety of materials to write personal messages on, from animal skins and bones, to beaten bark. However, it was the invention of paper that was to transform the greetings card into an international and multi-cultural phenomenon.
Types of paper were born out of Chinese expansion between 600-750, and the Japanese were to develop this further. The paper trail soon spread throughout the other parts of South East Asia and the Middle East, which coupled with European expansion soon after, meant that paper soon become an indispensable material. As a result, paper was started to be mass-produced in Europe throughout the 13th Century.
Germany, Greetings Cards and Woodcuts 1400s
Handmade greeting cards made from paper started to be exchanged by the early 1400s. The Germans started to print New Year’s greetings from woodcuts, and even Valentines cards were starting to be exchanged. Greeting cards of this sort were relatively expensive, handmade, and delivered to the recipient by hand (often by servants). Cards at this time carried with them a certain social significance. One’s popularity within Venetian society during this period was demonstrated by the amount of cards one had collected. Whilst the card had developed dramatically from its ancient ancestors into a more recognisable form by today’s standards, it was still very much exclusive to only the middle and upper classes of society in Europe.
19th Century Developments in Printing
The commercialisation and the mass popularisation of the card were still hindered by deficiencies in technology, but this was all to change by the 19th Century.
Developments in printing, and the introduction of the world’s first postage stamp in 1840, set the stage for greetings card to be catapulted into mainstream society. Just three years after the creation of the stamp, Sir Henry Cole invented the first commercial greeting card for Christmas in Victorian England (see above). The demand for greetings cards suddenly spread like wild-fire. So much so that companies sprung up all over Europe. Artists were used to create designs and illustrations for cards for all occasions, and by the turn of the 20th Century some of the largest card companies had established themselves.
1910 Sees the Birth of Hallmark
One of these was Hallmark, which was set up by Joyce Hall in 1910. Hallmark now publishes in more than 30 languages for distribution in more than 100 countries, which in itself demonstrates the overwhelming evolution of the greetings card.
Greeting Cards Today
According to statistics for 2009, the UK greeting card industry was worth £1.7 billion. With 800 publishers producing more than 1.5 billion greeting cards for the British public, the UK market is the most successful greeting card industry throughout the world!
The greetings card of tomorrow?
The evolutionary road of the card is certainly not at its end, despite the advent of the digital age. The Internet has merely made it easier for consumers to design their own cards and send a card at the click of a button. Whilst E-cards can be a fun and cheap alternative, a recent survey by the Royal Mail showed that 90 per cent of people much prefer to receive cards. So, what does the future hold for the card? We’ve seen musical cards and voice recordings; maybe in the future we will see holograms and video cards? Who knows…one thing is for sure, is that the card has been on a long journey from its ancient origins and will no doubt continue to develop throughout time.
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