[.ca] Postcard Century (ISBN 0500975906)

From Amazon.co.uk:
"Today I sent my first post cards--they are capital things, simple, useful, and handy. A happy invention". This prescient diary entry for 4 October, 1870 came three days after the Post Office Act legalised the sale of the first postcards, a form that would survive even the advent of email more than a century later. It would remain reliably constant, while in its small, rectangular way illustrating a century of human achievement. Occasionally enigmatic, sometimes passionate and frequently banal messages collectively narrate an intimate social history, usually expressed through a faithful, haiku-like formula--greeting, weather, health of writer, inquiry as to health of correspondent, and goodbye. While aviation, advertising, cars, wars, fashion, politics and ethnicity provide leitmotifs, Royal Academician Tom Phillips, whose own prolific art has recurrently embraced quintessential English mores, astutely celebrates the marriage of the democratic language of mundanity and the imagery of the monumental. From cards sent during the Blitz by senders more preoccupied by the rain than by the falling bombs, to Donald McGill's timelessly saucy ribaldry, the medium spans and connects a century it seems unlikely to outlast for too long. Each year has four pages, the first of which shows a full-size reproduction, plus a brace of cards depicting Piccadilly Circus and New York (unconsciously echoing the publisher's name). The passage of time sees cards come from further afield, passing into gaudy Technicolor, and then the modern photographic image, but while the emblematic New York skyline glitters with an increasingly towering swagger, by 1999 its London counterpart is still a red Routemaster bus, perhaps a suitable reflection of respective self-worth. Phillips curates with a keen eye, on and within the card, ensuring no scrap of detail goes unnoticed in his pleasurably digressive notations, and, like photographer Martin Parr (a fellow collector who also relishes grubbing around at dusty fairs), he is compelled by a complicated affection. In the same vein as Parr's Boring Postcards, it re-affirms an underrated, rich medium of the vernacular, as well as Phillips' position as one of Britain's most versatile artists. --David Vincent

The Postcard Century:
This provides good reading for both the postcard collector and the "history buff". I WAS a bit disappointed that about 85% of the cards are from the UK, but hey, so is the writer. It's just that I find the "Brits" a bit reserved in their letter-writing (the written message on the cards is presented). It's a great book for a long winter's read (I'm only up to 1938).

The Postcard Century.:
In essence this book is a year by year photographic history of the postcard that completely spans the 20th century.When I first picked it up I had personal resevations about it, purely because my postcard interest is solely about cards no more recent than the 1950`s and therefore expected almost a half of the book to be of no relevance.To my surprise the book proved thoroughly interesting right throughout to 1999. Each year is displayed with many fine examples shown along with a historical and objective commentary that traces both the developement of the postcard and also a fascinating social commentary centred around comments written on the back by the senders themselves. In conclusion this book I am sure would appeal to all with any degree of interest in postcards and even anyone with an interest in the history of the 20th century.This was borne out by my fascination even with the post 1950`s pages.For the first time I could see why some people only collect modern postcards.Unless one is looking for a priceguide/valuation aspect \onot touched on\cI would recommended unconditionally...

Quirky and fascinating:
Thank goodness for Tom Phillips. This postcard-filled volume is packed with images and texts created by countless sets of hands and eyes. There are few artist/thinkers today who could create order out of this chaos, and Phillips has done so delightfully. Featuring a multitude of stories within its overarching theme, The Postcard Century reveals its numerous histories with insight and charm.

Big and heavy history of the post card:
100 years of postcards (although they are older than that). Thousands of postcard images help illuminate the history of the postcard over the past hundred years. The book is broken out into decades to make the history a little easier. This is an excellent resource book for postcard fans and collectors. All aspects of postcards seem to be covered. One of the best such books in my collection (and certainly the biggest).