Americans send nearly two billion Christmas and holiday cards each year. We can thank British civil servant Henry Cole for introducing the world’s first commercial Christmas card. (For our philatelist friends, Cole is at times credited with the design of the world’s first postage stamp — the Penny Black.)

In 1840, the story goes, Cole didn’t have time to write his traditional Christmas letters to family and friends because he was busy with work at the Records Office in London. Instead, Cole came up with the idea to commission artist John C. Horsley to prepare his Christmas greetings.

At the time, Horsley’s illustration — a picture of a family with a small child drinking wine together — was controversial, but the basic idea was astute. The cards were so well received by Cole’s family and friends, Horsley had 1,000 copies made in 1843, selling them all for a shilling each. With that, an industry was started.