Are Postcards becoming a thing of the past?

Dotted around the Leger HQ are a number of Postcards all unique in their own way, from destinations all over the world, including Korcula, Rothenburg in Germany.
Although all of the Postcards were sent from all over the world, they all have one thing in common, not one of them was received in the last four years!
It got us wondering if Postcards are becoming a thing of the past. Has a simple text message or email put an end to the famous seaside souvenir?
This made us dig deeper in to the history of Postcards which resulted in some interesting finds –

  • The first one ever sent was a hand painted design, which was posted to a writer named Theodore Hook from himself in 1840 bearing a penny black stamp.
  • However the first known printed picture Postcard was created inFrance in 1870 by Leon Besnardeau.
  • 1871 was the year the first picture postcard which the image functioned as a souvenir was sent fromVienna.
  • The first American Postcard was developed in 1873
  • In 1984, Royal Mail gave permission to British publishers to manufacture and distribute picture Postcards.
  • Records show in the peak of the “saucy” themed seaside postcard, sales peaked at a whopping 16 million a year.
  • The study and collecting of Postcards is termed Deltiology.

Do you know any more facts about Postcards? Have you received or sent one recently? Let us know in the comments section below.

3 Replies to “Are Postcards becoming a thing of the past?”

  1. I always send postcards back to my work colleagues and they are pinned up on the office wall around the perimeter of a world map. They are nice to look at many months after my return and they can invoke happy memories of my trips. Sometimes, I even send cards from a comfort stop, like the time we stopped in a lovely area of Switzerland en-route to Fiuggi in 1997!,

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