Before 1907, if you were sending a postcard to the United States you couldn’t write anything other than the address on the back of the card. As a result of this people wrote their messages around the image and this led to an interesting and quirky intersection of words and pictures. The pattern created by the text against the image is often fascinating. The sender of the first postcard from Howth/Beann Eadair has managed to write a considerable amount of text over the sea and sky! It was sent to California in April 1905. The second card was sent to Boston in 1905 and mentions a trip to the Dublin Horse Show and Donaghadee, near Belfast.
Words and pictures
November 22, 2010 by jacolette
Posted in 1900s postcards | Tagged 1900s Dublin, Dublin, Dublin Postcards, Four Courts, Howth, Irish Photography, Irish Postcards, Irish-Americans, Postcards, Street Photography Dublin, Vernacular Photography | 3 Comments
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You see an image like that on the Four Courts postcard and you realise that Dublin really was the perfect Georgian city.
[…] anything but the address on the back of the card, which is why you can still find old cards with scribble all over the picture on the […]
I didn’t realise that restrictions were placed on what could be written on the backs of postcards. I too love the items I have with writing on the image. It creates an individual art work out of what would generally be an ordinary mass produced piece of inconsequential ephemera. I also love the variations in hand writing that comes through individual expression and also the way styles of writing vary from country to country and over time. Great post, Orla!