Editing Holy card (section)

== History ==

=== Old master prints ===
[[File:Maestro di flemalle, forse robert campin, annunciazione, 01.JPG|thumb|right|200px|''Annunciation'' by Robert Campin; a [[Woodblock printing|wood print]] is in the top right, between candle fixtures.]]
[[Old master print]]s, nearly all on religious subjects, served many of the same functions as holy cards, especially the cheaper [[woodcut]]s; the earliest dated surviving example is from 1423, probably from southern Germany, and depicts [[Saint Christopher]], with handcolouring, it is found as part of the binding of a manuscript of the ''Laus Virginis'' (1417) which belongs to the [[John Rylands Library]], Manchester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/guide/atoz/incunabula/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402010642/http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/guide/atoz/incunabula/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 April 2010 |title=Incunabula |work=Guide to Special Collections |publisher=John Rylands University Library |access-date=15 July 2010 }}</ref><ref>John Rylands Library (1969) ''Catalogue of an Exhibition of Manuscripts and Early Printing Originating in Germany''. Manchester: John Rylands Library; p. 15 (gives references to Dodgson: Woodcuts; 2 & Schreiber: Manuel; 1349)</ref>

Later [[engraving]] or [[etching]] were more commonly used. Some had elaborate borders of paper [[lace]] surrounding the images; these were called ''dévotes dentelles'' in France.

One use of such cards is illustrated in an early 15th-c painting of the Annunciation by [[Robert Campin]], which stages the event in a bourgeois home; above the fireplace, a print of Christopher carrying the Christ child is tacked to the wall, possibly as a more affordable alternative to a painting.<ref>{{cite book|title=Het hemels prentenboek: Devotie- en bidprentjes vanaf de 17e eeuw tot het begin van de 20e eeuw|publisher=Gooi en Sticht|first=J. A. J. M.|last=Verspaandonk|year=1975|location=Hilversum|pages=7–8}}</ref>

=== Lithography ===
The invention of [[chromolithography]] made it possible to reproduce coloured images cheaply, leading to a much broader circulation of the cards. An early centre of their manufacture was in the environs of the [[Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris|Church of St Sulpice]] in Paris; the lithographed images made there were done in delicate [[pastel]] colours, and proved extremely influential on later designs.

[[Belgium]] and Germany also became centres of the manufacture of holy cards, as did [[Italy]] in the twentieth century. Catholic printing houses (such as [[Bayard Presse|Maison de la Bonne Presse]] in France and [[Ars Sacra]] in Germany) produced large numbers of cards, and often a single design was printed by different companies in different countries.

=== Recent history ===
The 1940 ''[[Head of Christ]]'' painting has been printed more than 500 million times, including pocket-sized cards for carrying in a [[wallet]].<ref name="Lippy1994">{{cite book |last=Lippy |first=Charles H. |url=https://archive.org/details/beingreligiousam0000lipp |title=Being Religious, American Style: A History of Popular Religiosity in the United States |date=1 January 1994 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313278952 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beingreligiousam0000lipp/page/185 185] |quote=Of these one stands out as having deeply impressed itself of the American religious consciousness: the "Head of Christ" by artist Warner Sallman (1892-1968). Originally sketched in charcoal as a cover illustration for the ''Covenant Companion'', the magazine of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of America denomination, and based on an image of Jesus in a painting by the French artist Leon Augustin Lhermitte, Sallman's "Head of Christ" was painted in 1940. In half a century, it had been produced more than five hundred million times in formats ranging from large-scale copies for use in churches to wallet-sized ones that individuals could carry with them at all times. |access-date=30 April 2014 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the [[World War II]] era, "millions of cards featuring the Head of Christ were distributed through the USO by the [[Salvation Army]] and the [[YMCA]] to members of the American armed forces stationed overseas".<ref name="Moore2001">{{cite book |last=Moore |first=Stephen D. |url=https://archive.org/details/godsbeautyparlor0000moor/page/248 |title=God's Beauty Parlor |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780804743327 |page=[https://archive.org/details/godsbeautyparlor0000moor/page/248 248]}}</ref>

During the [[Cold War]], both Catholics and Protestants helped to popularize these cards, presenting "a united front against the menace of godless Communism".<ref name="Prothero2003">{{cite book |last=Prothero |first=Stephen |title=American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon |date=15 December 2003 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=9780374178901 |page=117 |quote=During the postwar revival of the 1940s and 1950s, as Protestants and Catholics downplayed denominational differences in order to present a united front against the menace of godless Communism, Sallman's Jesus became far and away the most common image of Jesus in American homes, churches, and workplaces. Thanks to Sallman (and the savvy marketing of his distributors), Jesus became instantly recognizable by Americans of all races and religions.}}</ref>