When the idea of writing message on a card without an envelope was first proposed, people were quite suspicious of this kind of communication. There were concerns for privacy as messages could be read by others. People were also not used to pre-paying the postage printed on postcards. The first postcards called Correspondenz-Karte were officially issued by Austria-Hungary in 1869. Unexpectedly, sending postcards immediately became a fashionable means of communication. The main reasons for its popularity were that it was much cheaper and quicker to send postcards than letters.
Early postcards were blank cards without pictures. The front of the card featured preprinted postage and the space was used for writing address only. A short message could be written at the back. Since the postcard had no decoration, some people added their own drawings. The postcard shown above was sent from Hong Kong to Hamburg, Germany in 1898. It showed a drawing of the iconic Chinese junk with eyes.
While messages on postcards were often short and formulaic, long messages were not uncommon. In order to put detailed information on such small cards, writers had to use the space creatively. For example, the postcard below, sent in 1907 from Hong Kong to Hanover, Germany, showed how the writer wrote horizontally and vertically.
Later, illustrations and pictures were printed on postcards. However, this made the space for writing message very small. In 1902, the divided back era began. The British Post Office allowed message to be written on the side of the address. Consequently, the address and the message shared on side of the postcard and the other side could be used entirely for the image. The early 20th century was the golden era of postcards. Development in tourism, printing, and photography also contributed to the postcard craze. The study and collection of postcards is called deltiology. Some people even wrote to strangers for exchanging postcards like this French girl who wrote:
“I have seen your address in Weldons. I would like to have post cards of Hong Kong will you exchange with me? and put the stamp on view side Tell me what could you like”
Postal services in Hong Kong began in 1841. In November of the same year, the first Post Office, a small building, was erected near St. John’s Cathedral. In 1877, Hong Kong became a member of the Universal Postal Union.