Postcards From Across The Pond

postcards

Postcards may seem a little redundant now, since we’re so used to being instantly connected to one another from opposite sides of the world. Maybe that’s why they now have a certain charm, and the novelty of sending someone a message that takes a week to arrive in the mail but lasts a lifetime is actually something people are impressed by all over again.

The origins of the modern day postcard are, as with many of our favourite inventions, somewhat unclear. Various countries saw important milestones in the development of the product that later became a phenomenon. For example, the first postcard is credited to the London-based writer Theodore Hook in 1840, and featured a hand-painted image on one side. The first commercially produced postcards were made in the US eight years later, complete with Hymen Lipman branding but without images. It wasn’t until more than 20 years later that printed picture postcards started being produced in France, Austria, Germany and eventually Great Britain. Continue Reading