Larger Card (1):
POHUTUKAWA (Tree), N.Z.
Price: $200.00 USD
(Includes shipping)
Larger Card (2):
MOUNT EGMONT, N.Z. (FROM THE PLAINS)
Price: $200.00 USD
(Includes shipping)
New Zealand Antique Prints
& Rare Books
The On-line
Gallery
Postcards may also be seen at:
New Zealand Birds’
(The Greytown Gallery)
65 Wood Street
Post Office Box 146
Greytown, 5742
Wairarapa
New Zealand
Mobile: +64 (0)27 508 5078
narena@nzbirds.com
New Zealand Chromolithographic Christmas cards:
The printer publisher A.D. Willis was a pioneer of colour printing in NZ. The Christmas cards printed in the 1880s were, as he said, to
“supply the special want long felt by residents of the Colony who may wish to send their friends on the other side of the world pictorial illustrations which .... convey an adequate idea and a tasteful realisation of the land we live in.”
In William Potts, A.D. Willis employed a highly skilled lithographer to help fulfil his ambitions. During 1882, Willis had brought out a set of floral Christmas cards hand-painted by “a Wanganui Lady” (probably Lydia Harding). In early 1883, he followed this by producing another line of cards, hand-painted by a number of local artists. He also used designs by Margaret Olrog Stoddart, then a high-profile graduating student at the Canterbury College School of Art.
The cards generally came in two sizes:
Larger: 5 5/8 x 4 1/8 inches (14.3 x 10.6 cm) approximately.
Smaller: 4 3/16 x 2 13/16 inches (10.6 x 7.1 cm approximately.
Reference: Peter Gilderdale, “Messages of Love from Maoriland”: A. D. Willis’s New Zealand Christmas Cards and Booklets 1883-1893.
Navigation Assistance:
Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image.
New Zealand Chromolithographic Christmas cards
A D Willis Publisher
Issued 1883 — 1886
Card size:
Larger: 5 5/8 x 4 1/8 inches (14.3 x 10.6 cm) approximately.
Smaller: 4 3/16 x 2 13/16 inches (10.6 x 7.1 cm) approximately.
Frame size: 12 x 10 1/2 inches (30 x 27 cm) approximately.
1883:
Christmas card titles:
- LINK to 1883 larger Images
- (These five cards from the 1883
issue are available for sale) - 1) Pohutakawa
- 2) Mount Egmont
- 3) Lake Rotorua (small card)
- 4) Karaka (framed)
- 5) Rangitoto Island (framed)
- (Reference: Peter Giderdale)
- • Houhi;
- • Karaka;
- • Karamu;
- • Mock Orange;
- • Ponga Fern Kareao;
- • Poroporo;
- • Tawa;
- • Titoki;
- • Tutu: Nikau Palm;
- • Black Mairie;
- • Lake Manapouri;
- • Lake Rotorua;
- • Mitre Peak;
- • Mount Egmont;
- • Pohutukawa;
- • Rangitoto Island;
- • Ruapehu;
- • Whero-whero;
Full list of Christmas card titles published in 1883.
1884:
Christmas card titles:
- LINK to 1884 larger Images
- (These two cards from the 1884
issue are available for sale) - 6) Mt Cook, N.Z.
- 7) Lake Mavora (Otago)
- (Reference: Peter Giderdale)
- • On the Dart River (Otago);
- • Mount Campbell;
- • The Kaikouras (Marlborough);
- • Entering Milford Sound;
- • In Milford Sound;
- • Paikakariki (Wellington);
- • Waitangi Falls (Bay of Islands);
- • Waitakere Falls (North of Auckland);
- • Lake Taupo;
- • Lake Mavora (Otago);
- • Among the Ranges, Queenstown (Otago);
- • Wellington Heads;
- • Lyttleton Harbour;
- • Timaru Breakwater;
- • Port Chalmers and Otago Heads;
- • Ocean Beach, Dunedin;
- • Breaksea Sound;
- • Otira Gorge;
- • Tararu Creek;
- • Bowen Falls, Milford Sound;
- • Entrance to Dusky Sound;
- • Mt Cook, N.Z., A Merry Christmas;
Full list of Christmas card titles published in 1884.
1885:
Christmas card titles:
- LINK to 1885 larger Images
- (This card is from the 1885
issue and is available for sale) - 8) TII (CABBAGE) TREE, N.Z.
- (Reference: Peter Giderdale)
- • Nikau Palm;
- • Lake Wakatipu;
- • Tii, Cabbage Tree;
- • Picton;
- • Pitau Fern;
- • Rangitata Gorge;
- • Lake Mavora;
- • NZ Flowers (Manapouri);
- • Pink Terrace, Lake Rotomahana;
- • View of Wanganui;
- • Floral Design;
- • New Plymouth Breakwater;
- • NZ Flowers;
- • Stewart’s Island;
- • NZ Berries;
- • Lake Kanieri, West Coast;
- • Docharty’s Bay, Dusky Sound;
- • Lyttleton Heads;
- • White Terrace, Lake Rotomahana;
Full list of Christmas card titles published in 1885.
1886:
Christmas card titles:
- LINK to 1886 larger Images
- (These four cards from the 1886
issue are available for sale) - 9) AKAROA HARBOUR, N.Z.
- 10) Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, N.Z.
- 11) Kiwi & view of Lake Wakatipu, N.Z. (small card)
- 12) Grahamstown Goldfields, Thames, N.Z. (small card)
- (Reference: Peter Giderdale)
- • Lake Wanaka;
- • Akaroa Harbour;
- • Rotokakahi (Taupo);
- • Manawatu Gorge;
- • Napier;
- • Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, N.Z.;
- • North Shore (Auckland);
- • Te Aroha;
- • Mount Arthur (Nelson);
- • Waitukere, Lower Falls (Auckland);
- • Coromandel;
- • Grahamstown Gold-field, Thames, N.Z.;
- • Kiwi & view of Lake Wakatipu, N.Z.;
Full list of Christmas card titles published in 1886.
