An original Beatrix Potter Christmas card, Peter Rabbit Sledging, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Bond Street on December 10.

It was drawn in 1894, eight years before the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and is estimated at £30,000-£50,000.

Also in the sale is the first Christmas card (£10,000- £15,000), a tradition thought to have been started by Henry Cole (co-founder of the V&A) in 1843 when he commissioned John Calcott Horsley to produce a card with a festive image with the strapline ‘A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year To You’ and lines for the sender to write the recipient’s name and his own signature (www.sothebys.com).

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