Charles Magnus was born in 1826 and emigrated from Elberfeld, Germany to the United States around 1848. Magnus worked in New York from 1850 to 1899 as a publisher, artist, and map dealer, among other print-related occupations. He utilized lithography and hand-coloring in his work. During the American Civil War, he published approximately 700 pictorial envelopes. Civil War envelopes began appearing before the war due to increasing sectional tensions and were published until shortly before the cessation of hostilities. Commonly depicted scenes on Magnus's envelopes include battlefields, American eagles, and the star-spangled banner. Charles Magnus died in 1900.

External source: Charles Magnus Collection, Col. 123, The Winterthur Library, Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Deleware, http://library.winterthur.org:8001/lib/item?id=chamo:26699.