Merry, Merry: To Be Disposed of Without Reserve
by Maria PopovaIt’s (almost) Christmas and we wanted to wish you a wonderful holiday with this lovely vintage seasonal artwork from 1882, courtesy of the The National Archives UK.
So do as the man says and have yourself said varied assortment of:
Christmas Wishes, Happiness, Joys, Comfort, Good Fellowship, Freedom from all sorrow, care and pain, also many choice New Year’s Wishes, including Prosperity, Health, Happiness, and all the Blessings on eaath.”
(No spellcheck in 1882, apparently.)
A tangential but important note: This image is one of many fantastic archival photographs available on Flickr Commons — a free and open archive of images from some of the world’s leading cultural institutions, made possible largely thanks to the open-copyright culture championed by Creative Commons over the past decade. CC is a nonprofit, so please consider giving them a well-deserved holiday gift in the form of a donation — their work is the single most important enabler of remix culture today.
In 2010, we spent more than 4,500 hours bringing you Brain Pickings. If you found any joy and inspiration here this year, please consider supporting us with a modest donation — it lets us know we’re doing something right and helps pay the bills.
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