John P. Charlton was an American printer [1] and stationer [2] from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is often credited as the inventor of the private postal card, which he copyrighted in 1861 together with Hymen Lipman. [3]
John P. Charlton was an American printer [1] and stationer [2] from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is often credited as the inventor of the private postal card, which he copyrighted in 1861 together with Hymen Lipman. [3]
The first postal cards have been used by William Henry Jackson, an artist and photographer, who painted Civil War battlefields in the beginning of the 1860s and used them to write to his family. [3] Charlton invented the private postal card around the same time in 1861 in Philadelphia. He copyrighted and patented [4] the idea in the same year. [5] He later transferred the rights to the idea to his friend and fellow printer Hymen Lipman who was also credited for the invention and who printed the postal cards with a decorative border and a small print reading "Lipman's Postal Card. Patent Applied For." (see picture). Lipman's cards were also the ones that were first known as "post cards". [6]
Charlton's invention was a plain card (except the decorative border), the face of which was completely reserved for the message. The reverse side was for the destination address and the 1¢ stamp. Neither side bore a picture or similar decoration, as modern picture postcards do. [7] The well-known postcard format of a divided back (for text and address) with an image on the whole front was not used in the US until 1907, [8] although they were used earlier in other countries. [9]
Charlton and Lipman stopped production of their postal cards in 1873. [1] [3] The United States had previously allowed non-government issued post cards to be circulated as long as proper postage was affixed to it and they confined to the government's regulations. Starting in 1873 however, the government began to issue their own post cards measuring 130 x 75 mm. This lasted until May 19, 1898, when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act.
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as a government monopoly, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp, but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing.
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare.
Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities. On January 26, 1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a Correspondenz Karte. By October 1, 1869 the world's first postal card was produced by Austria-Hungary. They caught on quickly. By the end of 1870, Great Britain, Finland, Switzerland and Württemberg joined the countries issuing postal cards. In the United States, they were first produced in 1873. Some of the forms taken by postal cards include the regular single card which may be commemorative or definitive, attached message-reply cards, airmail postal cards, and official postal cards used for official government business with a "penalty for private use".
Richard Jordan Gatling was an American inventor. He is best known for having invented the Gatling gun, which is considered to be the first successful machine gun.
The Beach Cities are a collection of three independently incorporated oceanfront cities in Los Angeles County south of El Segundo and north of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, comprising the cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach. They occupy the majority of the south end of Santa Monica Bay. Neighboring Torrance also shares a strip of beach property in the neighborhood of Torrance Beach, but the city of Torrance itself is generally excluded from the group.
Lenticular printing is a technology in which lenticular lenses are used to produce printed images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as they are viewed from different angles.
A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, such as Halloween, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feelings.
Erotic photography is a style of art photography of an erotic, sexually suggestive or sexually provocative nature. It is a type of erotic art.
Hymen L. Lipman is credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858.
Deltiology is the study and collection of postcards. The word originated in 1945 from the collaboration of Professor Rendell Rhoades (1914-1976) of Ohio and colleagues at Ohio State University. A biographical sketch of Dr. Rhoades life by his wife Nancy, was provided to the Canadian Friends (Quaker) Historical Association in 1994. Dr. Rhoades had responded to a contest by Editor Bob Hendricks in Post Card Collectors Magazine to create a more scholarly name for the hobby of postcard collecting. 'Philocartist' was a term used in the early 1900s, possibly coined by the noted early philatelist Fred Melville in his 1903 publication The A.B.C. of Stamp Collecting
An advertising postcard is a postcard used for advertising purposes. Postcards are used in advertising as an alternative to or to complement other print advertising such as catalogs, letters, and flyers. Advertising postcards may be mailed or distributed in other ways.
Rancho Sausal Redondo was a 22,458-acre (91 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Antonio Ygnacio Ávila by Juan Alvarado Governor of Alta California. Rancho Sausal Redondo covered the area that now includes Playa Del Rey, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Lawndale, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Redondo Beach.
The first postage stamps of Bhutan were issued in 1962, the same year that the first motorable road was opened. Before that there was a mail delivery system in place for official mail using mail runners, and between 1955 and 1962 revenue stamps were accepted as payment for internal mail. With the opening up of Bhutan in the early 1960s, a formal postal system was introduced.
Emanuel Alexander Herrmann was an Austrian national economist. He is considered the decisive last in an international line of inventors of the postal card.
Moonstone Beach was a tourist attraction in the beach community of Redondo Beach, California from the late 1880s to the early 1920s.
Walum is an unincorporated community in Griggs County, in the U.S. state of North Dakota.
The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company was an American greeting card and printing company and owner of television stations.
A Halloween card is a greeting card associated with Halloween. The concept originated in the 1890s United States, experiencing a peak of popularity there in the early 1900s. Until the advent of the common home telephone, Halloween cards occupied a role similar to Christmas cards and birthday cards. Today, many cards from the popular designers of the period are sought after as memorabilia.
The Penny Penates is a postcard that was posted on 14 July 1840 to Fulham in London. It was addressed to the writer and practical joker Theodore Hook, who was probably also its sender and artist. The hand-painted design on the postcard shows an image of post office clerks sitting around a giant ink well.
The history of postcards is part of the cultural history of the United States. Especially after 1900, "the postcard was wildly successful both as correspondence and collectible" and thus postcards are valuable sources for cultural historians as both a form of epistolary literature and for the bank of cultural imagery included in the postcard illustrations reflecting historic popular culture norms and tropes. Postcards are also valuable resources for scholars of architectural and regional history.
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