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[Kangaroos Around A Camp Fire Lounging And Cooking]

c1882. Colour lithograph, inscribed with Christmas greetings in ink verso, 10.8 x 18.7cm. Trimmed margins, some surface loss and paper remnants verso.

An excellent example of an early Australian-themed Christmas card, this card was most likely printed by Gibbs, Shallard & Co., one of the best publishers in Sydney.

Gibbs, Shallard & Co. (1870s–1893) was a publishing, printing and lithography company in Sydney and the publishers of The Illustrated Sydney News and Sydney Punch. “After a disastrous fire in their premises on Hosking Place in October 1890, the business did not recover and closed in 1893 when it was taken over by McCarron, Stewart & Co.”

“The practice of exchanging Christmas-themed greeting cards first became popular during the mid-nineteenth century. Christmas cards available in Australia, however, portrayed only English and European scenes. On 26 February 1881, Sydney stationer John Sands advertised an art competition offering prizes for original Christmas card designs showcasing ‘Australian subjects.’ Seven hundred (700) designs were submitted and displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW in May, with 24 designs placed into production and ready for sale by early December.” Ref: Dictionary of Sydney; Margot Riley, State Library of NSW.

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Item #CL208-7

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