7 May /14

Postcard

In 1840 the world’s very first postcard was designed and sent by Thomas Hook to himself, as a joke, together with a Penny Black, the world’s first stamp. This postcard was sold in 2002 for GBP 32,000, which also makes it the world’s most expensive postcard! But this really was one of a kind.

However, it took some twenty years before postcards became more popular, and another ten years before picture postcards arrived. As mentioned, the first reference in print was in the Stamp Collectors Magazine which reports the invention from Vienna. The most popular early image was the Eiffel Tower around about 1890. After this period the postcard became an art form which could be reproduced in large numbers. There were artist postcards, town view postcards, real photo postcards, advertising, souvenirs, comics. And they were popular. In 1905 something like 7 billion postcards were sent worldwide, almost 700 million of them in the US (this means something like 8 cards per person). Probably half of them ended up in collections. A whole industry developed, with designers, producers of the cards and the albums.

But with the start of the internet, it became easier to send a mail, then a picture, then a video. The postcards is dying.

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