Graham Thomas

Other than their artistic merits, little research has been done on postcards as historic and cultural artefacts. Behind this void lie many reasons. In part because of their very nature, the fact that they were popular and mass market rather turned the serious historian away. In part because they are disposable, and they were cheap. They possess no status. As Arisa Yamaguchi writes in Sartorial Japonisme and the Experience of Kimonos in Britain, 1865-1914 ‘the fast and easy to send postcard was…considered the letter of the poor because it was cheap.’ In part it is because they are rarely accompanied by a narrative. (Most of the big collections hold pristine examples that are unspoiled with a written message.) Hence most postcards are little more than snapshots of scenes such as the countryside, towns, villages, events, portraits of celebrities and ordinary people but rarely do they have background information added. Over the years their subject matter has become increasingly opaque, and their significance lost. And, it has to be acknowledged, many postcards carry images that are banal and possess no inherent - or obvious - artistic or historic merit. Nor do we have much insight into what postcards actually meant to either the sender or the recipient, and the role they played in people’s lives. Yet during this Golden Age whether in Japan, Britain, and many other countries, they became a critical part of telling and spreading the story of a nation. In some instances they had an important role in disseminating propaganda but most importantly, for a swathe of the population, they were an aide to communication when people were neither articulate or literate. Let the postcard do the talking, in a manner of speaking. This collection and analysis is very different most critically as the postcards enjoy the continuity of coming from one person, sent frequently over three years. They were the equivalent of today’s text and social media messaging and posts, sent at a time that was pivotal in Japan’s history. Each postcard is illustrated and described while the first chapters look at Japan during the late Meiji era, and the introduction and early history of picture postcards. Much has never been covered before so this will be of interest not only to Japan historians but also those interested in the evolution of the picture postcard and why they became so popular.

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