The Golden Age of the Postcard

Introduced in Austria in 1869, the correspondence card is considered the precursor of the postcard. Emerging in a context of economic and social change, it constitutes a new means of communication, facilitating short written messages in contrast to letters, while being cheaper and just as fast to send.

In Luxembourg, the correspondence card has been in circulation since 1870, with items sent uncovered. It is characterised by a front side reserved for the recipient’s address and a blank reverse side. The term postcard has been used since 1873 and was officially adopted at the Postal Congress in Paris in 1878. The modern form of the postcard, characterised by a front side divided into two sections, was only adopted at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Initially, postcards published by private industry were not envisaged. Nevertheless, as blank correspondence card templates were distributed free of charge, publishing printers, such as Théophile Schroell, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Luxemburger Zeitung (1829–1893), began producing their own cards. The first illustrated postcards of the Grand Duchy appeared around 1875. They made it possible to use the previously blank reverse side not only for attractive illustrations, but also for advertising messages. As postcards could be sent at half the price of a letter and postal workers made several rounds a day at the time, they soon became an ideal medium for “instantaneous” communication.

An essential communication tool

As a result, newspapers of the time were filled with advertisements in which traders asked readers to send them a postcard with their name and address in order to subscribe to a newspaper, request an appointment with an insurance agent at their home, or ask for product samples. In this manner, in an advertisement published in the Luxemburger Wort on 27 March 1884, Michel Risch, owner of a laundry, asked interested readers to send him a postcard indicating the address where he could collect his customers’ linens.

Since the telephone network was only accessible to a minority of the population until after the First World War, private individuals, as well as traders, used postcards to communicate.

Due to this significant demand, Luxembourgish photographers such as Charles Bernhoeft, as well as illustrators and booksellers, began publishing their own postcards. The emergence of these new publishers can also be explained by the adoption of new reproduction techniques at the end of the 19^th century. Photomechanical printing revolutionised the mass production of illustrated postcards. It was the most widely used process around 1900. As the printing medium allowed only a few hundred reproductions before becoming unusable, the print run of an edition was limited. At the same time, this process made affordable printing possible and dominated postcard production until the end of the First World War.

Around 1900, postcards were sent to let people know one was well and to show the places visited. However, due to their affordable price and speed, they were also used to arrange meetings. The postcard reproduced here, published by Charles Bernhoeft and part of the BnL’s Postcards Collection, illustrates the efficiency of the postcard. On the reverse of the card, sent on the morning of 27 May 1909, the sender writes:

Diekirch, Jeudi matin 9h 1/2 [:] Bonjour ma [illisible] ! J’espère que tu vas toujours bien. J’attends de tes nouvelles pour ce soir lorsque je rentrerai à Ettelbrück.

Depending on the location, the exchange between correspondents could therefore take place several times a day. Abroad, for example in certain districts of Berlin or Vienna, mail was sent six to seven times a day during this golden age of the postcard.

A valuable source

Being essentially an ephemeral document and the “instantaneous” means of communication of its time, the postcard constitutes a valuable source, which can help answer questions that are not necessarily addressed by other historical sources. It can provide an unaltered insight into the cultural, social, everyday, political and gender equality issues of the time. Compared with the written letter, which required more time and mastery of careful handwriting, the postcard democratised communication for lower social classes less accustomed to writing. It reflects a world changing at an unprecedented pace, with increasing professional and private mobility.

In contrast, in an article published in L’Indépendance luxembourgeoise in 1904, Georges Rocher feared that postcards would erode written expression:

La carte illustrée, est en somme intéressante parce qu’elle permet […] d’apprendre la géographie en images de façon plus agréable, plus frappante aux yeux et à l’esprit qu’avec le livre […]. Mais elle a tué le genre épistolaire où excellait l’esprit français […], les descriptions pittoresques de l’excursionniste […].

Nevertheless, the Luxembourgish postcard experienced a meteoric rise in popularity. The postal statistics published in the Mémorial are revealing. In 1872, for example, 4,238 postcards from and to the Grand Duchy were sent. By 1880, this figure had already risen to 155,883 cards, reaching 971,906 cards in 1900 and 2,940,236 cards in 1918. That same year, 4,861,896 stamped letters were sent within Luxembourg, alongside 160,792 telegrams for domestic service.

The telephone, long reserved for an elite, was now becoming increasingly important. At the same time, with the end of the First World War and the Zollverein, Luxembourg found itself in a difficult economic environment in the 1920s. This situation was reflected in the postal budget, which, anticipating an overall deficit of 4 million francs for 1921, increased postcard postage rates.

The introduction of the eight-hour working day (decree of 14 December 1918) and Sunday rest (law of 10 August 1919) affected mail dispatch and the number of delivery rounds. As a result, the postcard became less attractive than the telephone as a means of communication.

This article was originally published in French. The English version was translated using AI and reviewed by the author.