Sockl and Nathan were a 19th-century British

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

and

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

company with headquarters in London. It was created and managed by Victor Sockl and Saul Nathan.

History

The company was as a partnership between Victor Franz Thedor Sockl, a son of the painters

Theodor Sockl Theodor Benedikt Sockl (15 April 1815 – 25 December 1861) was an Austrian painter and photographer. Early life Stockl was born in Vienna on 15 April 1815, the son of the master cabinet-maker and inventor, Johann Gottlieb Sockl and Sophie, n� ...

and Clara Adelheid Sockl, née Soterius von Sachsenheim, and Saul Nathan. Victor Sockl, his brother Carl Sockl, and Carl's family had emigrated from the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in the second half of the 19th century, most likely seeking to avoid conscription and escape the unrest in Central Europe after the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

. Carl Sockl was the accountant of the company. The company specialised in producing reproductions of paintings. Their cards were printed by hand in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, a production method that preceded mass production of greeting cards. The business, based at 4 Hamsell Street,

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, was very successful for a time and obtained a Royal Warrant. Often its cards did not bear the company name, but were simply marked "copyright" because of fear of persecution due to "

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

" being a Jewish name. The company functioned also as a publishing house under the same name. They published illustrated books of children's poems. After a fire in an adjacent property caused extensive damage to its stock, the company struggled to survive. Eventually, it fell into decline, due mainly to competition from the emerging industry of mass-produced greeting cards. The partners dissolved the company in February 1897. A collection of about 200 cards remained in the propriety of the Sockl family. In the late 1980s seven cards were reproduced by the Medici Society for a number of years. In the 1990s about 100 were sold to an art dealer and exhibited in his gallery in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

. The remaining 100 were donated to the Ephemera Society. Approximately 53 cards can be found in the extensive

Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection is a collection of 19th to early 20th century British greeting cards, housed in the All Saints Library of Manchester Metropolitan University, England. The collection contains 32,000 cards by various publishe ...

, cataloged in her book ''A Gallery Of Greetings'' (1992). The collection is now at the

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

, part of their Victorian Ephemera Collection, housed in the Sir Kenneth Green Library, on the All Saints Campus.

Reception

Sockl and Nathan greeting cards were featured in the magazines and journals of the times, especially in the 1880s. Included in the novel card concepts launched by this company were those styled as autograph cards.

Gallery

File:Sockl & Nathan Birthday Card c1895.jpg File:Sockl & Nathan Pop-up Card c1895.jpg File:Sockl & Nathan Christmas Card c1895.jpg File:Sockl & Nathan Page from book 'Land Of Summer Glee' c1895.jpg

References

{{reflist, 2 Greeting cards Book publishing companies based in London Defunct publishing companies