Printed Matter - Real Photo Postcards

Real Photo Postcard (San Francisco, 1911)

In 1906, Kodak introduced their Folding Pocket camera, the first camera aimed at a mass market. One feature of this camera was the ability of the photographer to write a message on the negative with a metal scribe. These negatives were postcard sized and could be printed onto paper with a postcard back. Black-and-white "real photo" postcards made in this way and also by professional manufacturers continued to be popular until a new process for producing colour postcards, called "photochome" or "chrome" was invented shortly before the Second World War and came to dominate the industry after the War ended in 1945.

Because Real Photo postcards are produced directly from actual photographic negatives, they give an unaltered glimpse of early 20th century life. As a result, they are generally more sought after by collectors than the more colourful lithographic postcards of the same period.

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Printed Matter - Postcards

Although earlier examples are known, the postcard was patented in 1861 by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia. The rights were sold to H.L. Lipman who produced postcards with a decorated border labelled "Lipman’s postal card". By 1870, picture postcards were being produced in limited quantities in Europe.

A surge in the use of postcard came from the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in May 1893. At this Exposition, postcards illustrating buildings and views were issued. These included government produced postal cards and privately produced "souvenir cards".
  

 Postcard - St Louis Expo, 1904

Postcard - Louis Bleriot Flies from across the English Channel, 1909 Until 1901, the U.S. Government did not permit the use of the term "postcard" on privately produced cards; these were called "souvenir cards" or "mail cards". In 1898, an Act of Congress permitted the manufacture and sale of "private mailing cards", or "PMCs" and, in 1901, the ban on the use of the word "postcard" was lifted. From that time, several manufacturers began to produce postcards in significant volumes. By 1908, the number of postcards mailed in the year had exceeded 677,000,000. About three-quarters of these cards were made in Europe, particularly in Germany.

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