The 2008 Christmas card census

Same categories as last year, at least until I see whether this works or not:

• Snow scenes: 23, including:
  • 5 woodland scenes,
  
  
  • one Japanese print,
  
  
  • one stunning photograph by Edmund Nagele (ah. OK, not any of these, but the snow has the sculptured quality of the last two on this page) looking up a long hillside to a tree on the skyline with just the ghost of the moon beside it,
  
  
  • 5 townscapes: one somewhere in France, one Guildford, one surprisingly effective photograph of York at night, one starring 'the Amnesty bus',
  
  
  • 4 village scenes: including Kandinsky's Winter 1909, sunset on boats in harbour, and an unidentified picture of children playing with skis and sledges which must surely be from a pre-existing painting
  
  
  • one horse-drawn coach
  
  
  • this very stylish shot of skaters at Madison Square Garden by Gjon Mili
  
  
  • two pillarboxes - one of children queuing up to post their cards with a distinct flavour of Robert Doisneau - and a mailbox painted pillarbox red
  
  
  • and three snowmen (only one of them by Raymond Briggs)


• Birds: 25 birds comprising:
  • 3 non-realistic doves, one covered in the word 'peace' in many languages, another owing a lot to Picasso
  
  
  • 13 robins, including some of this year's largest and most glittery cards. 3 of these are completely stylised, one is a simplified but identifiable drawing, and the rest are either photographs or photo-realistic drawings.
  
  
  • one blue tit, one barn owl, one Mary Fedden Blackbird in the Snow
  
  
  • 6 penguins, including 2 Chris Masters 'Eric the Penguin' cards in which I originally originally took the penguins for moles (this isn't completely stupid of me, but you'll have to take my word for it, I can't find a decent image on the web. One of these cards also features a giraffe, the other has a tiny puffin. Also a computer, but that's not as interesting as a puffin, right?). Also 3 very fine penguin photos, and one completely irresistible little card by Caroline Pedler showing a penguin climbing up a ladder to put a star on top of a Christmas tree (this may well be my favourite of this year's cards; it's possible I'm just soppy about these birds).


• Animals: 12, comprising:
  • 3 polar bear families, two of which could equally well be classified as 'Madonna and Child', and the third of which is disqualified only by the fact that the madonna has two cubs. Plus two teddy bears hanging up their stocking on a tree.
  
  
  • 2 reindeer, plus one woodland scene with deer.
  
  
  • one red squirrel, one mole (yes, definitely this time)
  
  
  • 3 cats: one perched on a pillar box, one in a box (ah, it's Elizabeth Blackadder's Cat in a Box) and one black kitten wearing a Santa hat
  
  
  • one dog, wearing a Santa hat and beard - and glasses.


• Christmas trees: 6, stretching the definition to include the Eiffel Tower (scroll down, and it's the one on the left)


• Other plants: 15. That's 3 wreaths, 8 sprays of red berries and 2 snowdrops; and one each of mistletoe, pine cone and a loquat. Some of these may already have appeared alongside robins - berries, snowdrops, another pine cone. But not the loquat, which is a Margaret Brooker, and very lovely


• Baubles: 5


• The Christmas story: 14. In narrative order, that's one Botticelli annunciation; 2 (strictly, the same card twice, and I think this year's only duplicate) of Joseph and Mary making their way to Bethlehem through a black and white lacy forest under a black and white lacy star; 1 shepherds and 1 kings approaching the city, plus 2 general views of the city; 5 nativities (including another Botticelli, an unidentified illuminated capital and a Gerrit van Honthorst; 1 flight into Egypt (I had to look quite closely to distinguish this from the journey to Bethlehem, but in the latter Mary was clearly pregnant, and here she holds a babvy) and finally a Madonna and quite large toddler by the wonderfully named Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.


• Stars: 2


• Foodstuffs: 4, namely a Christmas pudding, a catalogue of Huntley and Palmers cakes, one of Sally Ann Norman's photographs from the Lit & Phil (not this one, but this style) and the feast from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry


• Plus 2 Father Christmas, 4 text designs, 1 bell (Inverary treble, to be precise), 1 candles (I'm surprised that there's only one, but it's a good one), 1 angel (ditto on both counts: it's Sara Wicks' Angel over Canterbury), one very lovely Erte Sleeping Beauty, 2 choristers, two 12 days of Christmas and 14 other items unclassifiable either by the variousness of their natures (a Christmas fairy, a view of Paris in the rain, a poem) or because the decorative element contained several different images

ETA (12.01.09): 4 more cards discovered lurking among other papers, and the list above amended accordingly.