How it began
The Austrian economist Emanuel Herrmann (1839 to 1902), a professor from Vienna, prompted the Austrian government to issue official "correspondence cards." The Austrian post released the first of them, the Correspondenz-Karte, on October 1, 1869. Heinrich von Stephan, a Prussian postal official, had proposed something similar at the Austro-German Postal Conference in Karlsruhe in 1865, but his idea was not taken up at the time.
How it works
The first card had no picture. It was a stiff sheet with a simple form for the address on one side and free space for a message on the other, and it carried a preprinted postage stamp included in the price. Because it traveled without an envelope the message was open to view, which one account notes made it weak on privacy. Until 1886 such cards were generally valid only within the country of issue.
How it spread
More than two million cards were sold in the first three months. In 1870 the North German Federation and Great Britain issued official reduced-rate cards on the Austrian model, and by 1875 the postcard had taken root worldwide. By the 1880s printers in France and Germany were making cards with small illustrations, and in the early 20th century several billion cards were posted each year.
What lasted
Brief messages had to be sent as letters, which called for formal stationery, envelopes and postage stamps. The telephone was not yet in wide use. Postal cards allowed a quick, cheap exchange of short messages and needed only a minimal level of literacy, which brought correspondence within reach of all but the very poorest. In large cities with several deliveries a day, a card could be answered on the day it was sent. Picture postcards later became a medium for holidays, travel and tourism, and they remain a staple of souvenir stands.
