The postcard was "invented" in Austria in 1869, as a way ofincreasing post office business by reducing the time and postage ofletter-writing, and their popularity quickly spre
…ad throughoutEurope. At first only pre-stamped, plain cardboard postcards wereused, but soon they carried all manner of artwork and photographsbesides their personal message. The postcard industry reached itspeak during World War I, as millions of civilians and soldiers senthasty messages back and forth. Soldiers at the front could onlysend terse, pre-printed cards from the trenches ("I am well", "I amwounded", "I am in receipt of your letter", etc.), but they couldeasily find commercial postcards in the villages just behind thefront lines. The civilians on the home front had a vast array ofsentimental, humorous or patriotic postcards to send to their boys.Whereas the photographs and pictures are wonderful social recordsof the war, some find the handwritten messages on the postcards'other side even more intriguing. The earliest known example was a hand painted card posted in Londonin 1840. Theodore Hook posted the card to himself. It was supposedto be a practical joke on the postal service. The first knownprinted picture was created in France by Leon Bresnardeau in 1870.The first American post card was developed in 1873 by the MorganEnvelope Factory. (MORE)