9 December: Christmas cards
December 9, 2011
This Christmas card from 1909 shows a traditional Christmas scene with a snow-covered roof and the bare branches of winter trees. True to the associations of the season, the use of a window on the card gives the idea of it being cold outside but toasty warm within. The card also illustrates indulgence with a …
8 December: A Christmas Croak
December 8, 2011
This is the opening to ‘A Christmas Croak’ which was first published in 1861 and is an alternative version of Christmas favourite God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Robert Brough’s miscellany A cracker bon-bon for Christmas parties: consisting of Christmas pieces for private representation and other seasonable matter, in prose and verse, in which the song …
2 December: Robin red-breast
December 2, 2011
This beautiful illustration of a robin features in one of about 650 ornithological books that form part of the University’s Porter Collection. Out of all the birds in the extensive collection, the robin is by far the most heavily associated with the festive period – but why is that? And why exactly do we put …
Find, follow, join us
