‘Scandalous’ first Christmas card up for sale

(Dennis M V David/Battledore Ltd. via AP)

The first commercially printed Christmas card is up for sale, showing a merry Victorian-era scene that scandalised some who denounced it when it first appeared in 1843.

The card, being sold online through a consortium run by Marvin Getman, a dealer in rare books and manuscripts based in the US city of Boston, depicts an English family toasting the recipient with glasses of red wine.