Christmas postcards, 1914
Merry Christmas! This used postcard featuring a winter scene was mailed on 22 December 1914. The card was printed in Germany but no artist is listed. As was traditional for the time and type of card there is a poem on the front. It almost looks like there was a printing error as the “T” in Fleeting is not level with the rest of the text. The card is either embossed or debossed as there is texture, mostly noticeable on the reverse. The raised areas can be felt by touch on the front of the card but both raised and depressed areas are visible on the reverse. In either case the card would have been produced by pressing between two metal plates. Embossing raises the design and debossing lowers it. The reverse of the card shown below, has had the color contrast adjusted to better see the raised design.
Christmas postcard, reverse, showing embossing/debossing, 1914
Even with postage rates increasing, many people still send Christmas cards and letters. The first known Christmas card was sent to James I of England and his son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1611. A commercially produced card was first introduced in 1843. It was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and designed by John Callott Horsley. The cards can feature anything from religious themes, to winter scenes like the one on today’s card, to Santa Claus, elves, snowmen, trees, reindeer, parties, caroling, even shopping and more.
Some cards were hand colored but beginning in the 1880s, when German companies became dominant postcard producers, a process called chromolithography was used for making multi-colored prints. Several runs would be required to produce multi-colored cards, with one color printed in each run. Multiple cards were printed on one large sheet and cut or trimmed around the edges. White borders were added around 1913 to allow some margin of error to the cutting.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_card
https://popthepixel.com/2022/4/29/embossing-debossing-letterpress/
https://worldpostcardday.com/history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromolithography
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