Postcard (originally opened letter) – a special kind of postcard for open letter (without envelope). Postcards first appeared in Austria on October 1, 1869. Postcard collecting is called philocarpy.
Birthday Card SVG Description
On the front side of the card there is a full-size (covering the entire area) image, and its back part is designed to write a message and addresses of the recipient and sender, as well as to stick a postage stamp. Often the stamp is printed directly on the postcard and the postage fee is included in the price of the latter at the time of sale. The card may not be a postcard. In this case, there is no postage stamp and no space for the address; it is a card made of heavy paper or cardboard the size of a regular letter. Postcard for open (without envelope) letter.
Birthday Card SVG History
Postcards (or postcards) were first proposed by Heinrich von Stefan in 1865 at the German-Austrian Congress, but his project was rejected because of “the indecent form of sending messages on an open mailing list”.
The first postcard was issued in Austria-Hungary. On October 1, 1869, a “correspondent card” with a stamp of two Kreutzers appeared in the postal service of this country. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the French and German warring armies also had the idea of providing the card with illustrations. Some of the soldiers began to accompany the postcards sent to their families with drawings. This idea was quickly accepted by the merchants. According to the French version, the first illustrated postcard (postcard) was issued by the bookseller Leon Benardo from Brittany, and in German – by the bookseller A. Schwartz from Oldenburg.
The launch was successful and the idea of the postcard quickly spread to other countries. In 1871 they were published by the post offices of England, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, in 1872 – Sweden, Norway, Ceylon, in 1873 – France, Spain, Romania, Serbia, Chile, and in 1874 – Italy. The postcard was published in Russia in 1872, the first Soviet postcards are dated November 1917. In 1878, the World Postal Congress in Paris adopted an international standard for postcards: 9 x 14 cm, which was changed in 1925 to another standard of 10.5 x 14.8 cm. Initially, its reverse side was intended for the address (there was no special place for writing), since 1904 its left half was allocated for short writing: circular, etc. of the Head of the General Directorate of Post and Telegraphs № 21 of February 16, 1904 was established a new order. The address side of the open letter was to be divided by a vertical line into two parts. The left was for written communication, the right for address, stamp and postage. In Russia since May 1, 1909 in all postal books, documents, forms the name “Open letter” was replaced by the inscription “Postal card”.
Postcard and Birthday Card SVG types
Illustrated postcards are divided into artistic (reproduction and original) and documentary (photo postcards).
Postcards issued by post offices usually have a printed postage stamp and are called stamped postcards; art untagged postcards have space for their stickers. There are cases of improper gluing of the stamp on the front, artistic side of the postcard intended for passing through the mail. Postcards with a place for stickers on the front side of the postcard, such as the Soviet postcard with the image of the experimental car HADI-7, are seldom found.
Postcards can be of the following kinds:
Greeting Cards and Birthday Cards SVG In the first place is a huge number of greeting cards with holidays (Christmas, New Year, Easter), which gives us the opportunity to draw a conclusion about certain common customs and symbols of this side of life.
Postcard. Postcards can also be a source of information on social history from various fields of work, trade and leisure in a city or region. For example, a series of postcards with genre scenes and urban types of Russia: street trading, sellers and distributors of goods, water carriers, ice-axes, haulage, walks, entertainment, sports and others. With these cards you can see a representative of a profession that does not exist anymore, including its appearance, clothing, as well as certain details and posture.
Postcards, which may be the carriers of unmaintained works of art, are assigned to a separate group because they may remain the only source of information on the disappeared cultural monument. For many years Rosokhrankultura has been publishing consolidated catalogues of cultural property stolen and lost during the Second World War. One of the sources for the restoration of the image series are postcards. Reproduced postcards are primarily a visual source of information on the interest of the State and the general public in the work of an artist or artistic association. For example, the artist F.K. Burhard (1854-1918) was a very popular and popular artist in his time, as evidenced by the numerous postcards, but in the Soviet time, not a single postcard with reproductions of his paintings was published.
Art cards. Postcards issued by art associations of the Society of Art Lovers, the Union of Russian Artists, the Association of Artists of the Revolution, LOSSH and others, provide an opportunity to introduce into the scientific circulation the names of forgotten and “undesirable” (repressed) artists and show the unknown pages of their work. Museum scientists, cultural specialists and art critics are interested in the information about the fact of exhibiting works of art on the postcard. According to these data, it is possible to reconstruct the time of the exhibition, the composition of participants and, most importantly, a number of graphic works. In Soviet times, postcards were published after each major exhibition. For example, “15 Years of the Red Army” (1933), “Exhibition of Fine Arts of Socialist Countries” (1959), All-Union Anniversary Art Exhibition “50 Years of Soviet Power (1967) and others. Conscious visibility was the goal of most of the postcards of the time.
Advertising cards. Soon postcards began to serve as advertisement carriers, for example, for an open restaurant, hotel or company.
Historical event cards. Another group includes the so-called historical and event postcards, on which people tried to capture various disasters, for example, on a ship or in a mine, as well as visits of dignitaries to a particular place, as well as grand opening of theater, factory, temple, school, etc. These postcards played a peculiar role as a transmitter of information, which was distributed among the population. Thus, for example, the events of 1917 were actively covered by the corresponding postcards.
Political postcards. In turn, another group of political postcards follows from such event postcards. Thus, postcards show not only the event, but also provide an opportunity to look at historical figures. Of course, the postcards were more often used to depict single heroes of the past and present, as evidenced, for example, by the postcards of revolutionary figures: Lenin, Stalin, Dzerzhinsky, Kalinin, Kirov, Sverdlov and others. Research into the criteria for the design of such portrait cards can be of great benefit to historical research. Meanwhile, political postcards had more themes – they covered all areas of politics and propaganda and were made in a variety of colors of war and peacetime, including so-called humorous or satirical postcards with cartoons on political topics.
Patriotic postcards. During the Second World War, the production of patriotic postcards reached its absolute peak. For example, the famous postcard of that time “Hitler wants to eat – let’s feed him!”, on which the artist V. Govorkov depicted Hitler with a knife and fork in front of wheat with the inscription “Ukraine” and next to it – with a shell in his mouth. Or another card, “Back and forth”, where the Nazi shouts with a sword first: “To Moscow” and then goes back in rags among the German graves. On the back of the postcard there is a comment: “Without tired to chase and smash Hitler’s regiments and divisions. Let’s destroy the German invaders’ army!” The mocking stories and signatures on the illustration, as well as the additions on the back side, were to make the Germans look pathetic and at the same time make the readers smile. A satirical postcard in wartime played not only a patriotic role, but also raised the spirits of soldiers at the front.
Photo postcard. Photo postcards differ in that their illustrations are photos. They used to be called species. Usually you can see pictures of cities, terrain, nature, famous people on the postcards. Photo postcard opens up great opportunities for creativity. The combination of the art of photography and design allows you to convey exactly the feelings you want to express to another person.
A business card. The business card appeared several decades ago and is only gaining momentum nowadays. These postcards are designed to congratulate your business partner, client, media representative, government official or official on a professional holiday, election victory, and whether you can congratulate a good person, but not a close one. Such a postcard will not be thrown in the basket, but will be placed on the desktop, where it will last for a long time, reminding about the giver. It can also be used to establish trusting relationships with customers or business partners and even with your own employees.