Postcard Heaven

Why would anybody collect postcards? Well, I think there are a variety of reasons, not least the fact that they are cheap and let's face it pretty ubiquitous. Everywhere you go you can find postcards. They are a universal phenomenon. They can become a record and souvenir of all the places you have ever visited, and so become a sort of commentary on your life. Would you like an illustrated history of your life? - then just collect postcards. Something else to consider about collecting postcards is that when you get them through the post they will have stamps on them, so it is also a way of cultivating philately. It is a good idea to tell your friends of your interest so that if they go abroad they can send you a postcard, and you will also get the foreign stamp. In addition you could swop postcards with other collectors if you all collected them, as in a syndicate.

Postcards can be linked to just about any personal interest, as the subjects covered in postcards is as wide-ranging as life itself. For example you can find postcards on heraldry, gardening, architecture, new stamps, humour, foreign places, art, history, museums, and so the list goes on. What you must do is become a specialist, take a topic and concentrate on collecting everything to do with it. That way your collection can become truly unique. How many people collect postcards on ancient oriental musical instruments - it won't be many ! On the other hand, if you don't want to become too narrow in your collecting throw your net ever wider and collect just about anything and everything, and so be heterogeneous. It can be up to you. Maybe to start off with you will want to collect just a little of everything and then concentrate on a narrower field when you have decided where your interest really lies. Probably the most omnipresent type of postcard of all is the topographical. Most postcards are produced as souvenirs to say 'wish you were here' when we go on holiday. But it is a golden opportunity to collect together all the memories of places special to you. Most people tour around their local area when the weather improves, but how many think to pick up a few postcards. We become too cavalier about the places down the road, but don't let familiarity breed contempt, and build up a library of local postcards. I feel cards can become like photographs if you have a personal collection that has meaning for you.

An interesting set of topographical postcards that is available, is from another era - the victorian era. These are faux cards but may be taken by a local photographer from the past. They can be an interesting insight into how a place has changed. Such cards can be found in shops and tourist offices showing life as once lived - a bygone age. Of interest if you like history. The postcards of Francis Frith are of particular note, either originals or modern copies. Holidays abroad are rich pickings. You can find all sorts of cards to record your holiday and at the same time boost your postcard colection.

What sort of places can you find postcards? Well, as I have already said they are pretty ubiquitous, but I look in second-hand shops, charity shops, antique fairs, postcard fairs, as well as the more usual places like post offices, newsagents and tourist shops or museums and art galleries. At antique fairs you can find old postcards and for some this is what collecting postcards is all about. To find a dated card of 1910 or previous is a 'must have'. These cards are a bit more expensive but certainly worth taking a look at. Often you will come across postcards of the Queen's coronation in Westminster Abbey, but you will find all sorts at antique fairs including prints of victorian children and courtly ladies as well as of places as they used to be. But like all antique dealers they will expect you to pay more for the privilege. At a postcard fair you will be overwhelmed by the selection and choice available to you. The sheer volume of postcards on offer is amazing. You will not know where to start. They offer a positive cornucopeia of subjects and again all sorts of things are available.

Possibly the most satisfying aspect of postcard collecting is the fact that you can follow a personal interest in your collecting no matter what that interest is. There will be postcards to cover most interests, including something like erotic art. There doesn't have to be anything prudish about your collecting. In art galleries you will get many fine reproductions of paintings on cards that are hung in the gallery and in post offices you will get cards of the new stamps just recently issued. Oriental cards can be very beautiful and there is usually plenty on offer at postcard fairs or local antique fairs. Many postcards show far eastern gardens in Japan or China and there are also pictures of men and women in traditional costume including the famous kimono. Portaits of Japanese women can be very colourful indeed. Possibly diametrically opposed to cards of such beauty are the seaside humour cards where aesthetics is superceded by something a lot more earthy and saucy. The saucy postcards found most famously at, for example, Blackpool tell of cheeky girls (some of them rather well-proportioned) and bewildered men eager to please the ladies. They have fruity captions and equally fruity artwork.

Possibly a lot of what postcard collecting is about is nostalgia. We all like to remember the past, particularly as we advance in years. There are cards specifically produced to recall bygone days including cards showing wartime boys and girls of the forties. A lot of the girls were posing cheekily and the cards are definitely cheesecake. Up to date cards of say firemen of Britain are distinctly beefcake!

Postcards associated with literary figures can be interesting. It is worthwhile when visiting any literary shrines in England to look out for them. Dickens' house in London is a case in point; there you will find postcards of his famous characters such as Mrs. Gamp or Mr. Bumble. At Haworth in the north of England there are plenty of souvenir shops to find postcards of the area and of the Bronte sisters too. In Wales at Laugharne there are numerous postcards to do with Dylan Thomas. His 'Fern Hill' is featured on one old postcard from the 1970's; written in tiny lettering one needs a magnifying glass to read the full text. Beatrix Potter's characters feature too on postcards. It is all a question of where you decide to visit to acquire the cards of most interest to you.

Every collector will be interested in unusual cards - it is in the nature of collecting and everyone will have their own idiosyncratic beliefs as to what makes the 'unusual' card. Cards with material attached to them to represent clothing for example. I have seen a pair of Spanish cards showing torreador and flamenco dancer sporting real material for their garments. This can be highly worked and embroidered with many coloured silks. A different sort of unusual is a slightly humourous card. It is longer than most cards and depicts a line of about twelve boys along a urinal, one of which has a bird perched on his shoulder. Such is the nature of caprice and whimsy. Another card in the same series as this one shows men resting on a girder miles up in the sky sleeping on the job. They would surely plunge to an ineluctable death in truth. This is maybe a slightly twisted sense of humour so closely associated as it is with danger. Another unusual card I have seen is one of the astronomical clock from Strasbourg cathedral. This comes complete with moving wheel which rotates to show the various objects which are regularly on show depending on the time of day, year etc. Most cards of the cathedral concentrate on the architecture, windows etc. so the clock card is quite unusual and dates from the early 1970's.

I have already suggested topographical cards are if anything common, but maybe a card showing the longest place name in the world is on the unusual side. The card of Llanfairpwllgwyngillgogerychwyndrobwchllantysiliogogogoch is possibly of interest to travellers and collectors alike. Needless to say the name goes from one side of the card to the other. Sculptures on postcards can be interesting. The Angel of the North is often depicted on cards; the brick train too by the side of the motorway outside a small northern town and also the stone staircase leading down to the river in Sunderland are common subjects for the postcard maker. Do cards have to be made from 'card'. Well, apparently not. I have seen both glass and wood cards. One made from wood was from Australia and had on it an Aborigine design. I don't think I would be sending a glass one through the post though!

Last but not least what should you do with all those postcards when you have collected them? Many may think they can be put in a shoe box and forgotten. It is much better to buy a set of albums specifically designed to incorporate them. They can then be viewed to their best advantage. It is the most ergonomic way too. And ultimately of course you can sell your postcards as I have done, but as all collectors know the thrill of collecting them was certainly worthwhile and the financial reward at the end even better!