The History of Greeting Card

Greeting cards started out as simple slips of papyrus, that were exchanged by both the Egyptians and Chinese as messages of goodwill. As the concept of greeting cards evolved, Europeans began to send them to one another for holidays such as Religious celebrations - and this occurred as early as the 1400’s. Of course, these cards were handmade and expensive so not everyone could afford to send greeting cards for their holiday well-wishes.
 
By the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization, as well as the 1840 introduction of the postage stamp.
 
Sending greeting cards to friends, lovers and family is a tradition that goes way back! More than 200 years to be exact. It gained real popularity in the mid 1800’s. One thing is for sure: the first cards were fine pieces of art. Not before the 1860’s, everyone could afford cards. Cheap color printing came along, and they began to sell in their thousands, creating a new industry for artists and printers.
 
During the 1980s, alternative cards began to appear – cards not made for a particular holiday or event, but as a more casual reminder of our connections to one another. The popularity of “non-occasion” cards continues to swell.
 
Explosive growth in electronic technology, and burgeoning consumer use of the Internet, gave birth to the electronic greeting card or E-card in the late 1990s. The development of this entirely new medium for card-sending served to further expand the industry, producing new E-card publishers as well as E-greeting product offerings by traditional publishers.
 
Today, greeting cards comes in various forms. From the traditional cards sealed inside envelopes to virtual greet card designs available in the internet via E-mail greeting is widely available as well. Greeting cards have evolved from an item used only by the rich to an everyday tradition. Whether you want to communicate with far-off relatives, or just let your sweetie know how much you love them - greeting cards make a great (and inexpensive) way to brighten up someone’s day!

Source : Santunan Jadid, December 2011
Tag : Education
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