![Burns on Ayr Postcard 1899](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Burns_on_Ayr_Postcard_1899.jpg)
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...
or thin
cardboard
Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...
, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an
envelope
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a shor ...
. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as
wooden postcards, copper postcards sold in the
Copper Country
The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including Keweenaw County, Michigan, Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties as well as part of Marquette County. The area is so named as copper mining was ...
of the U.S. state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, and
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
"postcards" from tropical islands.
In some places, one can send a postcard for a lower fee than a
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
.
Stamp collector
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...
s distinguish between postcards (which require a
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
) and
postal card
Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities. On January 26, 1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a ''Correspon ...
s (which have the postage pre-printed on them). While a postcard is usually printed and sold by a private company, individual or organization, a postal card is issued by the relevant
postal authority
This is a list of postal entities by country. It includes:
*The governmental authority responsible for postal matters.
*The regulatory authority for the postal sector. Postal regulation may include the establishment of postal policies, postal rate ...
(often with pre-printed postage).
Production of postcards blossomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
As an easy and quick way for individuals to communicate, they became extremely popular.
The study and collecting of postcards is termed ''
deltiology
Deltiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , diminutive of , , "writing tablet, letter"; and , ) is the study and collecting, collection of postcards. The word was first coined by Professor Randall Rhoades of Ashland, Ohio, in 1945. However, it too ...
'' (from Greek , small writing tablet, and English ''-logy'', the study of).
Historical Overview
1840 to 1864
![Lipmancard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Lipmancard.jpg)
Cards with messages have been sporadically created and posted by individuals since the beginning of postal services. The
earliest known picture postcard was a hand-painted design on card created by the writer
Theodore Hook
Theodore Edward Hook (22 September 1788 – 24 August 1841) was an English man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1809. The wo ...
. Hook posted the card, which bears a
penny black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. ...
stamp, to himself in 1840 from
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
(part of London).
He probably did so as a practical joke on the postal service, since the image is a caricature of workers in the post office.
In 2002 the postcard sold for a record £31,750.
In the United States, the custom of sending through the mail, at letter rate, a picture or blank card stock that held a message, began with a card postmarked in December 1848 containing printed advertising. The first commercially produced card was created in 1861 by
John P. Charlton
John P. Charlton was an American printer and stationer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is often credited as the inventor of the private postal card, which he copyrighted in 1861 together with Hymen Lipman.
History of Charlton's postal card
Th ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, who patented a private postal card, and sold the rights to
Hymen Lipman Hymen L. Lipman (March 20, 1817 – November 4, 1893) is credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858 ().
Hymen L. Lipman was born March 20, 1817, in Kingston, Jamaica, to English parents. He ...
, whose postcards, complete with a decorated border, were marketed as "Lipman's Postal Card".
These cards had no images. While the United States government allowed privately printed cards as early as February 1861, they saw little use until 1870, when experiments were done on their commercial viability.
First postals and private postcards (ca. 1865 to 1880)
![Feldpost-Correspondenzkarte](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Feldpost-Correspondenzkarte.jpg)
A
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n postal official,
Heinrich von Stephan
Ernst Heinrich Wilhelm von Stephan (born Heinrich Stephan, January 7, 1831 – April 8, 1897) was a general post director for the German Empire who reorganized the German postal service. He was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal Un ...
, first proposed an "open post-sheet" made of stiff paper in 1865.
He proposed that one side would be reserved for a recipient address, and the other for a brief message.
His proposal was denied on grounds of being too radical and officials did not believe anyone would willingly give up their privacy.
In October 1869, the post office of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
accepted a similar proposal, also without images, and 3 million cards were mailed within the first three months.
With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870, the government of the
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...
decided to take the advice of Austrian
Emanuel Herrmann
Emanuel Alexander Herrmann (24 June 1839 in Klagenfurt, Austria13 July 1902 in Vienna) was an Austrian national economist. He is considered the decisive last in an international line of inventors of the postal card.
Life and work
After graduating ...
and issued postals for soldiers to inexpensively send home from the field.
The period from 1870 to 1874 saw a great number of countries begin the issuance of postals. In 1870, the North German Confederation was joined by Baden, Bavaria, Great Britain, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The year 1871 saw Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden introduce their own postals.
Algeria, Chile, France and Russia did so in 1872, and were followed by France, Japan, Romania, Serbia, Spain and the United States between 1873 and 1874.
Many of these postals included small images on the same side as the postage.
Postcards began to be sent internationally after the first Congress of the
General Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...
, which met in Bern, Switzerland in October 1874.
The Treaty of Bern was ratified in the United States in 1875.
![Conlie postcard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Conlie_postcard.jpg)
The first known printed picture postcard, with an image on one side, was created in France in 1870 at
Camp Conlie
Camp Conlie was one of eleven military camps established by the Republican Government of National Defense under Léon Gambetta during the Franco-Prussian war. It became notable because of events which have led to its being described as a "concentr ...
by Léon Besnardeau (1829–1914). Conlie was a training camp for soldiers in the
Franco-Prussian War. The cards had a lithographed design printed on them containing emblematic images of piles of armaments on either side of a scroll topped by the arms of the
Duchy of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and the inscription "War of 1870. Camp Conlie. Souvenir of the National Defence. Army of Brittany" (in French). While these are certainly the first known picture postcards, there was no space for stamps and no evidence that they were ever posted without envelopes.
In Germany, the bookdealer August Schwartz from
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to:
Places
*Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica
*Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany
**Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony
*Olde ...
is regarded as the inventor of the illustrated postcard. On July 16, 1870, he mailed a post correspondence card with an image of a man with a cannon, signaling the looming Franco-Prussian war.
In the following year the first known picture postcard in which the image functioned as a
souvenir
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
was sent from
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. The first advertising card appeared in 1872 in Great Britain and the first German card appeared in 1874. Private advertising cards started appearing in the United States around 1873, and qualified for a special postage rate of one cent.
Private cards inspired Lipman's card were also produced concurrently with the U.S. government postal in 1873.
The backs of these private cards contained the words "Correspondence Card", "Mail Card" or "Souvenir Card" and required two-cent postage if they were written upon.
Golden age of postcards (ca. 1890 to 1915)
Cards showing images increased in number during the 1880s. Images of the newly built
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "'' ...
in 1889 and 1890 gave impetus to the postcard, leading to the so-called "golden age" of the picture postcard.
This golden age began slightly earlier in Europe than the United States, likely due to a
depression in the 1890s.
Still, the
Chicago World's Fair in 1893 excited many attendees with its line of "Official Souvenir" postals, which popularized the idea of picture postcards.
The stage was now set for private postcard industry to boom, which it did once the United States government changed the postage rate for private cards from two cents to one in May 1898.
Spanning from approximately 1905 to 1915 in the United States, the golden age of postcards stemmed from a combination of social, economic, and governmental factors.
Demand for postcards increased, government restrictions on production loosened, and technological advances (in photography, printing, and mass production) made the boom possible.
In addition, the expansion of
Rural Free Delivery
Rural Free Delivery (RFD) was a program of the United States Post Office Department that began in the late 19th century to deliver mail directly to rural destinations. Previously, individuals living in remote homesteads had to pick up mail themsel ...
allowed mail to be delivered to more American households than ever before.
Billions of postcards were mailed during the golden age, including nearly a billion per year in United States from 1905 to 1915, and 7 billion worldwide in 1905.
Many postcards from this era were in fact never posted but directly acquired by collectors themselves.
![Austrian Postcard 1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Austrian_Postcard_1901.jpg)
Despite years of incredible success, economic and government forces would ultimately spell the end of the golden age. The peak came sometime between 1907 and 1910 for the United States.
In 1909, American publishers successfully lobbied to place tariffs on high quality German imports with the
Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
The effects of tariffs really started to make a large impact, and escalating hostilities in Europe made it difficult to import cards and ink into the United States.
The fad may have also simply run its natural course.
The war disrupted production efforts in Europe, although postcard production did not entirely stop.
Cards were still useful for propaganda, and for boosting troop morale.
Post-World War I (1918 to present)
After the war, the production of postcards continued, albeit in different styles than before. Demand for postcards decreased, especially as telephone usage grew.
There was still a need for postcards, which would be dubbed the "poor man's telephone". As tastes changed, publishers began focusing on scenic views, humor, and fashion.
"White border" cards, which existed prior to the war, were produced in greater numbers from roughly 1915 to 1930 in the United States.
They required less ink and had lower production standards than fine German cards.
These were later replaced by "linen" postcards in the 1930s and 1940s, which used a printing process popularized by
Curt Teich.
Finally, the modern era of Photochrom (often shortened simply to "chrome") postcards began in 1939, and gained momentum around 1950.
These glossy, colorful postcards are what we most commonly encounter today.
Postcard sales dropped to around 25% of 1990s levels, with the growing popularity of social media around 2007, resulting in closure of long-established printers such as
J Salmon Ltd
J Salmon Ltd, founded in 1880, was a UK-based printing and publishing firm, and was the oldest established postcard and calendar publisher in Britain. It is based in Sevenoaks, Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the ho ...
in 2017.
Country specifics
India
In July 1879, the
Post Office of India
India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...
introduced a quarter
anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
postcard that could be posted from one place to another within
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. This was the cheapest form of post provided to the Indian people to date and proved a huge success. The establishment of a large postal system spanning India resulted in unprecedented postal access: a message on a postcard could be sent from one part of the country to another part (often to a physical address without a nearby post office) without additional postage affixed. This was followed in April 1880 by postcards meant specifically for government use and by reply postcards in 1890. The postcard facility continues to this date in independent
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
Japan
Official postcards were introduced in December 1873, shortly after stamps were introduced to Japan.
Return postcards were introduced in 1885, sealed postcards in 1900, and private postcards were allowed from 1900.
In Japan, official postcards have one side dedicated exclusively to the address, and the other side for the content, though commemorative picture postcards and private picture postcards also exist. In Japan today, two particular idiosyncratic postcard customs exist: and . New Year's Day postcards serve as
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 ...
s, similar to Western
Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during t ...
s, while return postcards function similarly to a
self-addressed stamped envelope, allowing one to receive a reply without burdening the addressee with postage fees. Return postcards consist of a single double-size sheet, and cost double the price of a usual postcard – one addresses and writes one half as a usual postcard, writes one's own address on the return card, leaving the other side blank for the reply, then folds and sends. Return postcards are most frequently encountered by non-Japanese in the context of making reservations at certain locations that only accept reservations by return postcard, notably at
Saihō-ji (moss temple). For overseas purposes, an
international reply coupon
An international reply coupon (IRC) is a coupon that can be exchanged for one or more postage stamps representing the minimum postage for an unregistered priority airmail letter of up to twenty grams sent to another Universal Postal Union (UPU) m ...
is used instead.
Russia
In the State Standard of the Russian Federation "GOST 51507-99. Postal cards. Technical requirements. Methods of Control" (2000) gives the following definition:
Post Card is a standard rectangular form of a paper for public postings. According to the same state standards, cards are classified according to the type and kind.
150px, Standard stamped postcard Russia
Depending on whether or not the image on the card printing postage stamp cards are divided into two types:
*marked;
*unmarked.
Depending on whether or not the card illustrations, cards are divided into two types:
*illustrated;
*simple, that is non-illustrated.
Cards, depending on the location of illustrations divided into:
*Vector card at the location on the front side;
*on the reverse side.
Depending on the walking area cards subdivided into:
*cards for shipment within the Russian Federation (internal post);
*cards for shipment outside of the Russian Federation (international postage).
United Kingdom
History
In Britain, postcards without images were issued by the
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
in 1870, and were printed with a stamp as part of the design, which was included in the price of purchase. These cards came in two sizes. The larger size was found to be slightly too large for ease of handling, and was soon withdrawn in favour of cards 13mm ( inch) shorter. 75 million of these cards were sent within Britain during 1870.
In 1973 the British Post Office introduced a new type of card,
PHQ Cards
PHQ cards are postcards issued by the British Post Office depicting the designs of their commemorative stamps. They are generally available to buy in main post offices about two weeks prior to the release of each new set of stamps.
Descripti ...
, popular with collectors, especially when they have the appropriate stamp affixed and a
first day of issue
A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for useBennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanl ...
postmark
A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...
obtained.
Seaside postcards
In 1894, British publishers were given permission by the
Royal Mail
, kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
to manufacture and distribute picture postcards, which could be sent through the post. It was originally thought that the first UK postcards were produced by printing firm Stewarts of Edinburgh but later research, published in Picture Postcard Monthly in 1991, has shown that the first UK picture card was published by ETW Dennis of
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
. Two postmarked examples of the September 1894 ETW Dennis card have survived but no cards of Stewarts dated 1894 have been found. Early postcards were pictures of landmarks, scenic views, photographs or drawings of celebrities and so on. With
steam locomotives
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
providing fast and affordable travel, the
seaside became a popular tourist destination, and generated its own souvenir-industry.
![Bathing beauty 1908](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Bathing_beauty_1908.jpg)
In the early 1930s, cartoon-style saucy postcards became widespread, and at the peak of their popularity the sale of saucy postcards reached 16 million a year. They were often bawdy in nature, making use of
innuendo
An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...
and
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
s, and traditionally featured
stereotypical
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
characters such as vicars, large ladies, and put-upon husbands, in the same vein as the ''
Carry On
Carry On may refer to:
* ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise
*Carry-on luggage or hand luggage, luggage that is carried into the passenger compartment
* ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film
* ''Carry On'' (novel), ...
'' films.
In the early 1950s, the newly elected
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government were concerned at the apparent deterioration of morals in the UK and decided on a crackdown on these postcards. The main target of their campaign was the postcard artist
Donald McGill
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
. In the more liberal 1960s, the saucy postcard was revived and later came to be considered, by some, as an art form.
Original postcards are now highly sought after, and rare examples can command high prices at auction. The best-known saucy seaside postcards were produced by the publishing company
Bamforths
Bamforth & Co Ltd was a publishing, film and illustration company based in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, England.
History
Bamforth & Co Ltd was started in 1870 by James Bamforth, a portrait photographer in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. In 1883 he beg ...
of
Holmfirth
Holmfirth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, on the A635 and A6024 in the Holme Valley, at the confluence of the River Holme and Ribble, south of Huddersfield and west of Barnsley. It mostly consist ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
.
Despite the decline in popularity of postcards that are overtly "saucy", postcards continue to be a significant economic and cultural aspect of British seaside tourism. Sold by
newsagents
A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...
and street vendors, as well as by specialist souvenir shops, modern seaside postcards often feature multiple depictions of the resort in unusually favourable weather conditions.
John Hinde used saturated colour and meticulously planned his photographs, which made his postcards of the later twentieth century become collected and admired as
kitsch
Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste.
The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...
. Such cards are also respected as important documents of
social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
, and have been influential on the work of
Martin Parr
Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...
.
United States
Postcard eras
There are several common motifs present in American postcard design, most shaped by production practices and laws in place at the time of production. These have been identified by
deltiologists
Deltiology (from Greek , , diminutive of , , "writing tablet, letter"; and , ) is the study and collection of postcards. The word was first coined by Professor Randall Rhoades of Ashland, Ohio, in 1945. However, it took about twenty years for i ...
and grouped together into what are commonly referred to as eras or periods which describe a postcard's style or method of production. While features of these eras, such as a divided back, are present in other countries as well, the dates of production may differ. For example, "divided back" postcards were introduced to Great Britain in 1902, five years before the United States.
The golden age of postcards is commonly defined in the United States as starting around 1905, peaking between 1907 and 1910, and ending by World War I.
Listed here are eras of production for specific types of postcards, as typically defined by deltiologists. Most of the dates are not fixed dates, but approximate points in time as there was a lot of overlap in production.
These will be further elaborated upon in the following sections.
*Pioneer, 1870–1898
**Alternate start dates include 1873 (first government postal issued)
and 1893 (
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
)
*Private Mailing Card‚ 1898–1901
*Undivided Back‚ 1901–1907
**Occasionally called the "Post Card" era
*Divided Back‚ 1907–1915
*White Border‚ 1915–1930
*Linen‚ 1930–1945
*Photochrom(e)‚ 1939–present
Others styles of postcards have fairly established dates of production as well. These are not typically referred to as eras, as they were never the predominant type at any given time.
*Real Photo‚ 1903–present
**Began with the introduction of a Kodak camera in 1903
*Leather‚ 1900–1909
**References to "leather postals" and "leather post cards" began to appear in newspapers across the United States in late 1904 and were in popular use by Valentine's Day of 1905.
History
Pioneer era
Under an act passed by the U.S. Congress on February 27, 1861, privately printed cards (which weighed one ounce or less) were allowed to be sent as mail.
John P. Charlton
John P. Charlton was an American printer and stationer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is often credited as the inventor of the private postal card, which he copyrighted in 1861 together with Hymen Lipman.
History of Charlton's postal card
Th ...
copyrighted the first postcard in America that same year.
The rights to this card were later sold to
Hymen L. Lipman, who began reissuing the cards under his name in 1870.
The U.S. Postmaster General
John Creswell
John Andrew Jackson Creswell (November 18, 1828December 23, 1891) was an American politician and abolitionist from Maryland, who served as United States Representative, United States Senator, and as Postmaster General of the United States app ...
recommended to the U.S. Congress one-cent postal cards in November 1870.
Legislation was passed on June 8, 1872, which allowed the government to produce postal cards.
By law, only government-issued postcards were allowed to say "Postal Card".
Privately printed postcards were still allowed but they were more expensive to mail (two-cent postage versus one-cent for government cards).
Backs of these private cards typically contained the words "Correspondence Card", "Mail Card" or "Souvenir Card".
The Morgan Envelope Factory of
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
, claims to have produced the first American postcard in 1873.
Political hold-ups including concerns by future President James Garfield (the Representative), delayed issuance of the official government postal.
Finally, it was issued in May 1873, and first went on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts on May 12 of that year.
According to ''The New York Times'', postal clerks in the city sold 200,000 cards within 2.5 hours on May 14.
Nationwide, 31 million postal cards were sold by the end of June 1873, and more than 64 million by the end of September.
The numbers only continued to grow through 1910.
World's fairs
There were many
world's fairs
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
and expositions held across the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first to be depicted in an early advertising postcard was the Interstate Industrial Exposition that took place in Chicago in 1873.
As that exposition card was not intended to be a souvenir, the first postcard to be printed explicitly as a
souvenir
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
was created for the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
, also in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
.
There were 120 different images of the exposition printed on government postals by private distributors.
Among the most popular, was Charles W. Goldsmith's set of ten postcard designs (in full color) showing the exposition buildings.
Governmental postal cards, and private souvenir cards featuring buildings and exposition grounds remained popular staples of future expositions.
One large mix-up occurred at the 1895
Cotton States and International Exposition
The Cotton States and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in 1895. The exposition was designed "to foster trade between southern states and South American nations as well as to show the products an ...
in Atlanta.
All of the postcards there were printed on plain card stock, so most people assumed they were government-issued postals requiring one cent for postage instead of two.
The incident made the headlines.
Golden age of postcards
The U.S. Congress passed an act on May 19, 1898 which allowed private printers and publishers to officially produce postcards, and for them to be posted at the same rate as government-produced postals (one-cent, previously two).
Until this time, privately printed cards bore the terms "Correspondence Card", "Mail Card" or "Souvenir Card".
The act now required private cards to state "Private Mailing Card, Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898".
Hence, deltiologists have referred to this as the "Private Mailing Card Act".
This prohibition on verbiage was rescinded on December 24, 1901, by the Postmaster-General, who issued Post Office Order No. 1447.
It allowed private postcards to use the term "Post Card" on their backs.
The order also shortened the requirement and allowed private publishers to omit the citation to the 1898 act.
Still, correspondents could only write on the front of the postcard, the back was reserved for the recipient's address.
This has become known as the "undivided back" era of postcards.
The
Universal Postal Congress decreed that government-issued postcards in the United States could contain messages on the address side beginning March 1, 1907.
In line with these changes, the United States Congress passed an act on March 1, 1907, which extended this to privately produced cards.
These laws were further tweaked by orders of the U.S. Postmaster-General that same year.
This ushered in the "divided back" era of postcards, which lasted until World War I.
On these cards the back is divided into two sections: the left section is used for the message and the right for the address.
Thus began the "golden age" of American postcards, which roughly spanned from 1905 to the First World War.
Others define the "Golden Age" as aligning more closely with the "divided back" era.
Regardless, it peaked between 1907 and 1910, and started to decline with the introduction of tariffs on German-printed postcards in 1909.
The postcard craze between 1907 and 1910 was particularly popular among rural and small-town women in Northern U.S. states.
[Gifford, Daniel (2013) ''American Holiday Postcards 1905–1915: Imagery and Context''. McFarland Press. .] Many social, economic, and governmental factors combined to create the postcard boom.
Demand for postcards increased, government restrictions on production loosened, and technological advances (in photography, printing, and mass production) made it possible.
In addition, the expansion of
Rural Free Delivery
Rural Free Delivery (RFD) was a program of the United States Post Office Department that began in the late 19th century to deliver mail directly to rural destinations. Previously, individuals living in remote homesteads had to pick up mail themsel ...
allowed mail to be delivered to more American households than ever before.
Other factors included shifts in artistic taste among the public, and the development of a sale and distribution network of jobbers and importers—connecting Main Street America with German printers.
Billions of postcards were posted during the golden age, with nearly 700 million postcards mailed during the year ending June 30, 1908 alone.
The decline began with the
Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909, which was mostly lobbied for by American publishers who did not wish to compete with German publishers.
By some estimates, the new tariffs on postcards were an increase of 300 percent. Many distributors imported large quantities of German-produced cards before the tariffs took effect, causing a glut in the market.
German publishers began moving production to the United States shortly after the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act to keep selling to the American market. Ultimately, the tariffs contributed to the end of the "golden age" as publishing quality decreased (American technology lagged behind German), and as public interest in collecting waned.
The National Postcard Association was formed to combat unfair practices, low prices, and an excessive amount of unsalable postcards.
Effects of the tariffs were reinforced by the
British naval blockade of German merchant ships at the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
Postcard manufacturers called off their annual conventions that year, and many shifted to greeting card production.
The war cut off the importation of fine German-produced cards as well as dyes used for ink—which were largely produced by the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
.
Production of some postcards would continue during the war, to support propaganda efforts and troop morale.
Post-World War I
In response to the war-time shortages of ink, and the restrictions placed on importation, American publishers began producing larger quantities of postcards which featured a white border on the edges.
Although these were seen occasionally prior to the war, this design change allowed publishers to save ink and lowered the precision threshold for cutting the cards.
The "white border" era would last from about 1913 to 1930.
During this period, public tastes had changed and publishers began focusing more on scenic views, humor, fashion, and surrealism.
Mid-century "linen" postcards were produced in great quantity from 1930 to 1945, although they continued to be produced more than a decade after the introduction of Photochrom cards.
Despite the name, "linen" postcards were not produced on a linen fabric, but used newer printing processes that used an inexpensive card stock with a high rag content, and were then finished with a pattern which resembled linen.
The face of the cards is distinguished by a textured cloth appearance which makes them easily recognizable. The reverse of the card is smooth, like earlier postcards. The rag content in the card stock allowed a much more colorful and vibrant image to be printed than the earlier "white border" style. Due to the inexpensive production and bright realistic images they became popular.
One of the better known "linen-era" postcard manufacturers was
Curt Teich and Company, who first produced the immensely popular "large letter linen" postcards (among many others). The card design featured a large letter spelling of a state or place with smaller photos inside the letters. The design can still be found in many places today. Other manufacturers include Tichnor and Company, Haynes, Stanley Piltz, E.C. Kropp, and the Asheville Postcard Company. Cards printed by Curt Teich and Company typically included production numbers in the stamp box, which can be used for dating.
By the late 1920s new colorants had been developed that were very enticing to the printing industry. Though they were best used as dyes to show off their brightness, this proved to be problematic. Where traditional pigment based inks would lie on a paper's surface, these thinner watery dyes had a tendency to be absorbed into a paper's fibers, where it lost its advantage of higher color density, leaving behind a dull blurry finish. To experience the rich colors of dyes light must be able to pass through them to excite their electrons. A partial solution was to combine these dyes with petroleum distillates, leading to faster drying heatset inks. But it was Curt Teich who finally solved the problem by embossing paper with a linen texture before printing. The embossing created more surface area, which allowed the new heatset inks to dry even faster. The quicker drying time allowed these dyes to remain on the paper's surface, thus retaining their superior strength, which give Linens their telltale bright colors. In addition to printing with the usual
CYMK
The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refers ...
colors, a lighter blue was sometimes used to give the images extra punch. Higher speed presses could also accommodate this method, leading to its widespread use. Although first introduced in 1931, their growing popularity was interrupted by the outbreak of war. They were not to be printed in numbers again until the later 1940s, when the war effort ceased consuming most of the country's resources. Even though the images on linen cards were based on photographs, they contained much handwork of the artists who brought them into production. There is of course nothing new in this; what it notable is that they were to be the last postcards to show any touch of the human hand on them. In their last days, many were published to look more like photo-based chrome cards that began to dominate the market. Textured papers for postcards had been manufactured ever since the turn of the century. But since this procedure was not then a necessary step in aiding card production, its added cost kept the process limited to a handful of publishers. Its original use most likely came from attempts to simulate the texture of canvas, thus relating the postcard to a painted work of fine art.
World War II to present
The last and current postcard era, which began about 1939, is the "chrome" era, a shortened version of Photochrom (without the 'e' in American English; with in British English).
However these types of cards did not begin to dominate until about 1950 (partially due to war shortages during WWII).
The images on these cards are generally based on colored
photograph
A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s, and are readily identified by the glossy appearance given by the paper's coating. "These still photographs made the invisible visible, the unnoticed noticed, the complex simple and the simple complex. The power of the still photograph forms symbolic structures and make the image a reality", as Elizabeth Edwards wrote in her book, ''The Tourist Image: Myths and Myth Making in Tourism''.
Standards
The
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
defines a postcard as: rectangular, at least high × long × thick and no more than high × long × thick. However, some postcards have deviated from this (for example, shaped postcards).
Controversies
Legalities and censorship
The initial appearance of picture postcards (and the enthusiasm with which the new medium was embraced) raised some legal issues. Picture postcards allowed and encouraged many individuals to send images across national borders, and the legal availability of a postcard image in one country did not guarantee that the card would be considered "proper" in the destination country, or in the intermediate countries that the card would have to pass through. Some countries might refuse to handle postcards containing sexual references (in seaside postcards) or images of full or partial nudity (for instance, in images of classical statuary or paintings). For example, the United States Postal Service would only allow the delivery of postcards showing a back view of naked men from Britain if their posteriors were covered with a black bar. Early postcards often showcased photography of nude women. Illegal to produce in the United States, these were commonly known as
French postcard
A French postcard is a small, postcard-sized piece of cardstock featuring a photograph of a nude or semi-nude woman. Such erotic cards were produced in great volume, primarily in France, in the late 19th and early 20th century. The term was ado ...
s, due to the large number of them produced in France. Other countries objected to the inappropriate use of religious imagery. The
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
banned the sale or importation of some materials relating to the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
in 1900. Affected postcards that were successfully sent through the Ottoman Empire before this date (and are postmarked accordingly) have a high rarity value and are considered valuable by collectors.
Lynchings
In 1873, the
Comstock Act
The Comstock laws were a set of federal acts passed by the United States Congress under the Grant administration along with related state laws.Dennett p.9 The "parent" act (Sect. 211) was passed on March 3, 1873, as the Act for the Suppression of ...
was passed in the United States, which banned the publication of "obscene matter as well as its circulation in the mails".
[Kim, Linda (2012). "A Law of Unintended Consequences: United States Postal Censorship of Lynching Photographs". '']Visual Resources
''Visual Resources'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering art theory, digital art history, and art historiography published by Routledge. It was established in 1980 and the editor-in-chief is Barbara Pezzini (University of Manches ...
''. Taylor & Francis. 28 (2): 171–193. doi:10.1080/01973762.2012.678812. In 1908, §3893 was added to the Comstock Act, stating that the ban included material "tending to incite arson, murder, or assassination".
Although this act did not explicitly ban lynching photographs or postcards, it banned the explicit racist texts and poems inscribed on certain prints. According to some, these texts were deemed "more incriminating" and caused their removal from the mail instead of the photograph itself because the text made "too explicit what was always implicit in lynchings".
Some towns imposed "
self-censorship
Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...
" on lynching photographs, but section 3893 was the first step towards a national
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
.
Despite the amendment, the distribution of lynching photographs and postcards continued. Though they were not sold openly, the censorship was bypassed when people sent the material in
envelope
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a shor ...
s or mail wrappers.
World War I
Censorship played an important role in the First World War.
Each country involved utilized some form of censorship. This was a way to sustain an atmosphere of ignorance and give propaganda a chance to succeed.
In response to the war, the United States Congress passed the
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...
and
Sedition Act of 1918
The Sedition Act of 1918 () was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a neg ...
. These gave broad powers to the government to censor the press through the use of fines, and later any criticism of the government, army, or sale of war bonds.
The Espionage Act laid the groundwork for the establishment of a Central Censorship Board which oversaw censorship of communications including cable and mail.
Postal control was eventually introduced in all of the armies, to find the disclosure of military secrets and test the morale of soldiers.
In
Allied countries, civilians were also subjected to censorship.
French censorship was modest and more targeted compared to the sweeping efforts made by the British and Americans.
In Great Britain, all mail was sent to censorship offices in London or Liverpool.
The United States sent mail to several centralized post offices as directed by the Central Censorship Board.
American censors would only open mail related to Spain, Latin America or Asia—as their British allies were handling other countries.
In one week alone, the San Antonio post office processed more than 75,000 letters, of which they controlled 77 percent (and held 20 percent for the following week).
Soldiers on the front developed strategies to circumvent censors.
Some would go on "home leave" and take messages with them to post from a remote location.
Those writing postcards in the field knew they were being censored, and deliberately held back controversial content and personal matters.
Those writing home had a few options including free, government-issued field postcards, cheap, picture postcards, and embroidered cards meant as keepsakes.
Unfortunately, censors often disapproved of picture postcards.
In one case, French censors reviewed 23,000 letters and destroyed only 156 (although 149 of those were illustrated postcards).
Censors in all warring countries also filtered out propaganda that disparaged the enemy or approved of atrocities.
For example, German censors prevented postcards with hostile slogans such as "''Jeder Stoß ein Franzos''" ("Every hit a Frenchman") among others.
Historical value
Postcards document the natural landscape as well as the built environment—buildings, gardens, parks, cemeteries, and tourist sites. They provide snapshots of societies at a time when few newspapers carried images.
Postcards provided a way for the general public to keep in touch with their friends and family, and required little writing.
Anytime there was a major event, a postcard photographer was there to document it (including celebrations, disasters, political movements, and even wars).
Commemorating popular humor, entertainment, fashion, and many other aspects of daily life, they also shed light on transportation, sports, work, religion, and advertising.
Cards were sent to convey news of death and birth, store purchases, and employment.
As a primary source, postcards are incredibly important to the types of historical research conducted by historians, historic preservationists, and genealogists alike. They give insight into both the physical world, and the social world of the time. During their heyday postcards revolutionized communication, similar to social media of today.
For those studying communication, they highlight the adoption of media, its adaptation, and its ultimate discarding.
Postcards have been used to study topics as diverse as theatre, racial attitudes, and war.
Digital collections
Libraries, archives, and museums have extensive collections of picture postcards; many of the postcards in these collections are digitized Efforts are continuously being made by professionals in these fields to digitize these materials to make them more widely accessible to the public. For those interested, there are already several large collections viewable online. Some large digital collections of postcards include:
*
OldNYC' (New York Public Library)
Digital Collections(New York Public Library)
**These collections include the Detroit Publishing Company, holiday postcards, WWI postcards, and more.
*
Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection' (Newberry Library)
*
The Pendergast Years' (Kansas City Public Library)
*
Northwest Historical Postcards Collection' (University of Idaho)
*
Kansas City, Kansas Postcard Collection' (Kansas City, Kansas Public Library)
Ernest G. Best postcard collection of merchant vessels, naval vessels and sailing vessels, 1900–1940 State Library of New South Wales, PXE 722/Items 1–4961.
Collecting
It is likely that postcard collecting first began as soon as postcards were mailed. One could argue that actual collecting began with the acquisition of souvenir postcards from the world's fairs, which were produced specifically with the collector (souvenir hunter) in mind.
Later, during the golden age of postcards, collecting became a mainstream craze.
The frenzy of purchasing, mailing, and collecting postcards was often referred to as "postcarditis", with up to half purchased by collectors.
Clubs such as ''The Jolly Jokers'', ''The Society for the Promulgation of Post Cards'', and the ''Post Card Union'' sprang up to facilitate postcard exchanges, each having thousands of members.
Postcard albums were commonly seen in Victorian parlors, and had a place of prominence in many middle and upper class households.
Today, postcard collecting is still a popular and widespread hobby. The value of a postcard is mainly determined by the image illustrated on it. Other important factors for collectors can be countries, issuers, and authors. Online catalogs can be found on collector websites and clubs. These catalogs provide detailed information about each postcard alongside their picture. In addition, these websites include collection management tools, trading platforms, and forums to assist with discussions between collectors. The oldest continuously run club in the United States is the ''Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City'', founded in 1946.
Glossary of terminology
Most of the terms on this list were devised by modern collectors to describe cards in their possession. For the most part, these terms were not used contemporaneously by publishers or others in the industry.
;3D Postcard
:Postcards with artwork that appears in 3D. This can be done with different techniques, such as
lenticular printing
Lenticular printing is a technology in which lenticular lenses (a technology also used for 3D displays) are used to produce printed images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as they are viewed from different angles.
Ex ...
or hologram.
;
Advertising Postcard
An advertising postcard is a postcard used for advertising purposes (as opposed to a tourism or greeting postcard). Postcards are used in advertising as an alternative to or to complement other print advertising such as catalogs, letters, and fly ...
:Specialist marketing companies in many countries produce and distribute advertising postcards which are available for free. These are normally offered on wire rack displays in plazas, coffee shops and other commercial locations, usually not intended to be mailed.
;Appliqué
:A postcard that has some form of cloth, metal or other embellishment attached to it.
;Art Déco
:Artistic style of the 1920s, recognizable by its symmetrical designs and straight lines.
![FolliesBergereBoxCostume](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/FolliesBergereBoxCostume.jpg)
;Art Nouveau
:Artistic style of the turn of the century, characterized by flowing lines and flowery symbols, yet often depicting impressionist more than representational art.
;Artist Signed
:Postcards with artwork that has the artist's signature, and the art is often unique for postcards.
;Bas Relief
:Postcards with a heavily raised surface, giving a papier-mâché appearance.
;Big Letter
:A postcard that shows the name of a place in very big letters that do not have pictures inside each letter ''(see also Large Letter)''.
;Composites
:A number of individual cards, that when placed together in a group, form a larger picture. Also called "installment" cards.
;
Court Card
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...
:The official size for British postcards between 1894–1899, measuring .
;Divided Back
:Postcards with a back divided into two sections, one for the message, the other for the address. British cards were first divided in 1902 and American cards in 1907.
;Early
:Any card issued before the ''divided back'' was introduced (pre-1907).
;Embossed
:Postcards with a raised surface.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Exaggeration may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Exaggeration can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke str ...
Postcards featuring impossibly large animals and crops, created using
trick photography
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...
and other methods.
;Folded
:Postcards that are folded, so that they have at least 4 pages. Most folded cards need to be mailed inside an envelope, but there are some that can be mailed directly.
;Hand-tinted
:Black-and-white images were tinted by hand using watercolors and stencils.
;Hold-to-Light
:Also referred to as 'HTL', postcards often of a night time scene with cut out areas to show the light.
;Intermediate Size
:The link between Court Cards and Standard Size, measuring .
;Kaleidoscope
:Postcards with a rotating wheel that reveals a myriad of colours and patterns when turned.
![Greetings from Los Angeles, California (63828)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Greetings_from_Los_Angeles%2C_California_%2863828%29.jpg)
;Large Letter
:A postcard that has the name of a place shown as a series of very large letters, inside of each of which is a picture of that locale ''(see also Big Letter)''.
;Maximum Card
:Postcards with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card and tied by the cancellation, usually the first day of issue.
;Midget Postcard
:Novelty cards of the size .
;Novelty
:Any postcard that deviates from the norm. These include cards which do something (such as mechanical postcards) or which have articles attached to them.
They could also be printed in an unusual size or shape, or made of strange materials (including leather, wood, metal, silk, or coconut).
;Oilette
:A trade name used by
Raphael Tuck & Sons
Raphael Tuck & Sons was a business started by Raphael Tuck and his wife in Bishopsgate in the City of London in October 1866,Picture Postcards and Their Publishers, by Anthony Byatt, page 288 selling pictures and greeting cards, and eventually se ...
for postcards reproduced from original painting.
;Postcard Folder
:A set of picture postcards, printed on light-weight paper, which fold out accordion-style from an outer envelope (folder). These typically contain more than 5 cards.
;Postcardese
:The style of writing used on postcards; short sentences, jumping from one subject to another.
;
QSL Card
A QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radiocommunication between two amateur radio or citizens band stations; a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, television or shortwave broadcasting station; or the re ...
:Postcards that confirms a successful reception of a radio signal on amateur radio.
;
Real Photographic
:"Real photo postcards", as collectors have dubbed them, are often abbreviated as "RP" or "RPPC". Most of these were produced in small batches from an original negative by an individual or a local store.
They are not printed.
;Reward Card
:Cards that were given away to school children for good work.
;Special Property Card
:Postcards that are made of a material other than cardboard or contains something made not of cardboard.
;Standard Size
:Introduced in Britain in November 1899, measuring .
;Topographical
:Postcards showing street scenes and general views.
Judges Postcards
Judges Postcards is a postcard, picture postcard manufacturer based in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, first produced by Fred Judge in 1903. It was known as Judges Limited between 1910 and 1984.
Fred Judge
Fred Judge (11 June 1872 – 23 Febru ...
produced many British topographical views.
;Undivided Back
:Postcards with a plain back where all of this space was used for the address. This is usually in reference to ''early'' cards, although undivided were still in common use up until 1907.
;Vignette
:Usually found on "undivided back" cards, consisting of a design that does not occupy the whole of the picture side. Vignettes may be anything from a small sketch in one corner of the card, to a design cover three quarters of the card. The purpose is to leave some space for the message to be written, as the entire reverse of the card could only be used for the address.
;Write-Away
:A card with the opening line of a sentence, which the sender would then complete. Often found on early comic cards.
Gallery
File:Entry - Great Mosque of Kairouan - Postcard 1900.jpg, Entry of the Great Mosque of Kairouan
The Great Mosque of Kairouan ( ar, جامع القيروان الأكبر), also known as the Mosque of Uqba (), is a mosque situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan, Tunisia and is one of the most impressive and largest Islamic mo ...
, postcard from 1900
File:Fortress in Vyborg.jpg, Fortress in Vyborg
Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
, postcard from 1917
File:Theatrical District, Richmond, Virginia, 1923.jpg, Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, c. late 1923. The intersection shown is at 8th & Broad Streets.
File:Aloha nui cook.jpg, Hawaiian Aloha nui
, known as Yae, is a Japanese singer, mainly known outside Japan for having performed the theme songs for the GameCube role-playing video game ''Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles''.
Biography
Yae is the second daughter of the singer and musician ...
Postcard c. 1908
File:Dackel mit Bierkrug.jpg, German postcard with inscription "This beer belongs to my master!"
File:Bayreuth Purger 142.jpg, ''Gruss aus''-type postcard, published by the Munich based German printing house Purger & Co.
See also
*
Advertising postcard
An advertising postcard is a postcard used for advertising purposes (as opposed to a tourism or greeting postcard). Postcards are used in advertising as an alternative to or to complement other print advertising such as catalogs, letters, and fly ...
*
Frances Brundage
Frances Isabelle Lockwood Brundage (1854–1937) was an American illustrator best known for her depictions of attractive and endearing children on postcards, valentines, calendars, and other ephemera published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Samuel ...
*
Ellen Clapsaddle
Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (January 8, 1865 - January 7, 1934) was an American illustrator/commercial artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only is her style greatly admired and well recognized, today she is recognized as the most p ...
*
Deltiology
Deltiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , diminutive of , , "writing tablet, letter"; and , ) is the study and collecting, collection of postcards. The word was first coined by Professor Randall Rhoades of Ashland, Ohio, in 1945. However, it too ...
*
e-card
E-card is an electronic postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available many different ways, usually on various Inter ...
*
Francis Frith
Francis Frith (also spelled Frances Frith, 7 October 1822 – 25 February 1898) was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom.
Frith was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, attending Quaker schools at Ackwort ...
*
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 ...
*
Esther Howland
Esther Howland (1828–1904) was an artist and entrepreneur who was responsible for popularizing Valentine's Day greeting cards in America.
Early life
Esther Allen Howland, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was the daughter of Southworth Al ...
*
Illustrated stamped envelope
An illustrated stamped envelope (russian: Художественный маркированный конверт) is a stamped envelope
A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope (PSE) is an envelope with a printed or embossed indicium in ...
*
Judges Postcards
Judges Postcards is a postcard, picture postcard manufacturer based in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, first produced by Fred Judge in 1903. It was known as Judges Limited between 1910 and 1984.
Fred Judge
Fred Judge (11 June 1872 – 23 Febru ...
*
Mail Art
Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondence Schoo ...
*
Paper size
Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.
The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. ...
s
*
PHQ Cards
PHQ cards are postcards issued by the British Post Office depicting the designs of their commemorative stamps. They are generally available to buy in main post offices about two weeks prior to the release of each new set of stamps.
Descripti ...
*
Postal card
Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities. On January 26, 1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a ''Correspon ...
*
Postcardware
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...
*
Postcrossing
Postcrossing is an online project that allows its members to send and receive postcards from all over the world. The project's tag line is "send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!" Its members, a ...
*
Postino
: ''For the artist, see Postino (artist).'' ''For the movie, see Il Postino.''
Postino is an application built for iOS /sup>, Android social network, which allows users to create custom physical postcards and to send them worldwide. The user ta ...
*
PostSecret
PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren in 2005, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. Selected secrets are then posted on the PostSecret website, or used for PostSecret's books ...
*
QSL card
A QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radiocommunication between two amateur radio or citizens band stations; a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, television or shortwave broadcasting station; or the re ...
*
Real photo postcard
A real photo postcard (RPPC) is a continuous-tone photographic image printed on postcard stock. The term recognizes a distinction between the real photo process and the lithographic or offset printing processes employed in the manufacture of mo ...
*
F. G. O. Stuart
*
James Valentine
*
References
External links
The Postcard Traders associationRepresents professionals within the UK postcard industry.
The International Federation of Postcard DealersRepresents professional postcard dealers worldwide.
Japanese Postcard Collecting Research きのう屋日本の絵葉書コレクションBowden Postcard Collection Online Approximately 24,000 digitized postcards, maintained by the Walter Havighurst Special Collections in the Miami University Libraries.
abadie.co.uk currently the only book of classic John Hinde postcards with the senders messages transcribed
johnhindecollection.com a website dedicated to John Hinde Postcards
*
*
PostcardTree 30,000+ digitized and postally used postcards.
Newberry Postcards at Internet Archive– digital collection of 26,000+ postcards
National Trust Library Historic Postcard collectionat the
University of Maryland libraries
The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...
Institute of American Deltiology Postcard collectionat the University of Maryland libraries
{{Authority control
American inventions
British humour
British culture
Postal stationery
Philatelic terminology