SELECTION OF AMERICAN PRANG VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS CARDS AND COLLECTOR'S

1880. PRANG, Louis, et al. SELECTION OF AMERICAN PRANG VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS CARDS AND COLLECTOR'S SCRAPBOOK. 28 original Prang (and other) Christmas and holiday cards from the Victorian era, together with scrapbook pages, collector's manuscript notes and articles from various periodicals and newspapers about holiday cards. The cards are all in very good condition, a few with slight creasing or wear to corners, or label adhesion to reverse. There are 20 small Christmas cards, 4.5 x 5 inches or smaller; three large Christmas cards, 5.5 x 6 inches or larger; one large fringed Christmas card, 4.25 x 5.5 inches; one large fringed Easter card, 4 x 5.25 inches (this card has a faint horizontal crease); two small New Year's cards, 2.25 x 3.5 inches or larger; and one large 3-D folding Valentine (not by Prang), 8.75 x 6 inches, with light creasing at the top. All sizes are approximate, and except for the Valentine, all are square or rectangular. One of the large Christmas cards has a light dusting of white glitter. Also included are nine loose scrapbook pages, with ten articles about cards affixed, one dated from the 1930s, the other looking a bit later. There are six loose articles, and seven pages of handwritten notes, some excerpted from "Riding a Christmas Hobby" by Mary D. Hudgins. 22 of the cards are by Prang, and some are late 1870's; most that are dated are 1880's. Prang introduced chromolithographed Christmas cards to the American marketplace in 1874. Prang was a master lithographer and his Christmas cards were wildly popular through the 1890's.