Earlier this year Daily Constitutional editor Adam took us on a Cartoon & Comic Book Tour of London – 20 stops on a metropolis-wide search for all things illustrated.
You can catch up with that tour on the dedicated Cartoon & Comic Book Tour of London blog at www.cartoonandcomicbooklondon.blogspot.co.uk
From time-to-time he'll be adding stops to the tour here on The Daily Constitutional. Stops such as this one…
Panel 26: The First Christmas Card
The final "stop" on my Cartoon & Comic Book Tour of London for 2015 takes on a seasonal note…
The tale of the first commercially produced Christmas card is well known. The year was 1843, it was the idea of this fellow…
… who lived here in Hampstead…
… and it looked like this…
The card was the work of John Calcott Horsley, rector
and treasurer of the Royal Academy, painter of historical scenes and illustrator.
A handy cartoonist, too, if his Christmas card is anything to go by.
In the 1880s he became a subject of the cartoonist's satirical pen when he opposed the modish French practice of painting nude life models.
Punch magazine dubbed him "Mr J. C(lothes) Horsley" and presented him thus…
1,000 cards were produced and sold at a shilling apiece (!). They were published by Joseph Cundall at 12 Bond Street. Tip your hat as you pass by Christmas shopping…
Coming in the New Year on The Cartoon & Comic Book Tour of London… Cruikshank, Gillray and… Wonder Woman (!).
P.S. You can catch up with David's post on Henry Cole HERE.
Christmas 2015 With London Walks
The Amazing Old Shops Walk takes place on the 19th December – meet Judy at Green Park Station at 10:45a.mThe Christmas Lights & Seasonal Cheer Pub Walk takes place on the 19th December meet at Embankment Tube 7:15p.m
On Christmas Day there are TWO London Walks:
Walk up an appetite with The Christmas Morning 1660 Walk – meet at 11:00a.m by the big tree in Trafalgar SquareWalk off the pudding with The Christmas Day Charles Dickens Walk – meet by the big tree in Trafalgar Square at 2:00pm
A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
