Can anyone tell me what sort of Tuck's card this is?

[merriette]

Obviously, it's by Raphael Tuck & Sons, it is copyrighted, and it bears wishes for a jolly Christmas.
The reverse is empty, except for a larger-than-usual R.Tuck & Sons logo.j
It is smaller than a postcard, but it's not a Christmas card.
Does anyone know what kind of card this is and what it was used for?
Thanks'

[allotment]

It's a Victorian Christmas card.  At that time greeting cards were often made from a single piece of card, not folded.  Some have plain backs with just the publisher details some have a verse printed to the back.  

It's a very nice example of its type.

[allotment]

You can find some other examples at This Website

[merriette]

Do you know whether these sorts of cards originally had envelopes? Were they ever written on; were they ever sent through the mail?
Thanks so much so much for your help.
M
P.S. I just looked at your eBay listings. Love your Kirchner ladies!

[allotment]

Yes, they were often sent, in envelopes, and the sender would write their greeting to the back of the card. The recipient would often then paste them into scrap books and those books are today the source of these cards for todays collectors.  It's why you'll often find glue spots to the backs.  As well as the examples like yours you'll also find more elaborate examples made from many layers of paper pasted to a single sheet of card.

Glad you liked the KIrchners, they are a personal passion of mine.

[lbstamps]

A relatively new reference site for those interested in Ralphael Tuck postcards. I has more the 130k of the publishers work available for display.

Postcards of Raphael Tuck & Sons

Larry

[ragbutter]

Thanks Larry - Bookmarked.

[4166mcdonnell]

Me too, I have also saved that link. Thanks also, Larry.