1163
the number of postcards sent in Britain was almost ten
times that amount.
Although entrepreneurs quickly recognized the pos-
sibility of producing cards embellished with borders,
advertisements, and pictures, governments continued
to regulate and monopolize postcards. Privately printed
postcards could be sent through the post, but at the stan-
dard, rather than reduced, rate. In general, there were
fewer postal regulations on the continent than in Britain
and the United States, so countries such as Germany,
Switzerland, and Austria led the way in the evolution
from the plain postcard to the picture postcard. Various
people are claimed to have produced the fi rst picture
postcards. The two most often agreed upon are Leon
Bésnardeau and A. Schwartz, both of whose cards ap-
peared in 1870, inspired by the Franco-Prussian war. An
Austrian postcard printed by A. Schwartz of Oldenburg,
showing a soldier and cannon in upper left-hand corner,
is considered to be the earliest government-issued picto-
rial postcard. In France Leon Bésnardeau, a stationer in
Sillé-le-Guillaume, printed a card for the Breton troops
showing stacked weapons and an empty battlefi eld sur-
rounding the address area.
In 1870 English fi rms began to print pictorial ad-
vertisements on post offi ce halfpenny cards, but these
were not considered to be offi cial cards, nor were
they picture cards in the purest sense. In 1872 private
printers in many countries won the right to print cards
provided they had offi cial postage printed on them.
German, Swiss, and Italian publishers all printed early
view cards; in Nuremberg J.H. Locher of Zurich printed
a series of views of his city which may have been the
earliest view cards issued. Although the printers had
won a victory for cards with pictures, the use of such
cards was still strongly tied to commerce. Single-color
small views of cities and attractions such as spas and
restaurants were printed on cards more to attract busi-
ness to these venues than for the sake of producing an
attractive card that would be purchased and sent for its
intrinsic value.
In 1875 the First Congress and International Postal
Treaty established a fi xed rate for letters sent to all
member countries of the union. Postcards could now
be sent abroad between member countries at half the
letter rate. However, at this time the address and post-
age were still placed on the front of the cards, which
constrained the size of the image. It gradually it became
the practice to reserve one side for the address, with no
other writing allowed on it, and the other side for the
picture and stamp. The choice was between having a
front with smaller pictures and space for writing, or
a picture covering the entire face, so that if the sender
wished to include a message it could only be written over
the image. The divided-back postcard, which solved the
problem of providing space for the message, address,
and postage all on one side of the card, leaving the other
side completely free for the image, did not come into
being until 1902, when it was adopted by Great Britian,
with other countries quick to follow suit.
Although instantaneous photography was readily
available by the time the fi rst postcards appeared, real
photographs were not used as postcards until almost
the turn of the twentieth century. Instead, photographs
formed the basis from which the image was reproduced.
By the 1890s single-color picture postcards had given
way to full-color cards reproduced from photographs by
means of collotype, chromolithography, photogravure,
or half-tone photo engraving. The photograph was seen
only as the basis for the card. Even when it recorded
an event, the photograph was thought of solely as the
intermediary from which half-tone blocks could be made
and printed. Thematic cards such as those made popular
by Bamforth and others were carefully posed and ar-
ranged and views were carefully framed. Such cards
were advertised as being based on “real life photos.”
The potential of the real-photo postcard was realized
late in the century when established photographers
began to capitalize on their existing stock of images
and expertise. While some well-known photographers
scoffed at the picture postcard medium, others such as
William Jackson in the United States, and Francis Frith
and Valentine and Sons in England, recognized the
potential for both making and publishing photographic
postcards. Soon other photographers began selling nega-
tives to picture postcard companies.
The real–photo postcard was given a boost just
before the turn of the century when George Eastman
introduced lightweight, hand-held cameras pre-loaded
with 100-exposure rolls of fi lm. Advertised by the slo-
gan “You press the button, we do the rest,” the entire
camera was returned to Kodak for developing. One
could receive either small prints or sepia-colored real
photo postcards.
Starting in 1902 Kodak offered a pre-printed card
back for printing negatives as postcards. Many itinerate
photographers used postcard stock, and they and other
professional photographers could have their name or
logo printed on it. Glass plates and sheet fi lm were
also available in postcard size. The following year the
#3A Folding Pocket Kodak was introduced which took
postcard-sized photographs on roll fi lm. It included a
waist-level viewfi nder that could be rotated 90 degrees,
allowing the user to take horizontal as well as vertical
pictures. Postcard format cameras were soon produced
by other manufacturers. Made by amateurs and “pro-
fessionals” alike, the age of the gelatin silver snapshot
photograph had begun, lasting well into the fi rst half of
the twentieth century.
Beth Ann Guynn