The Postcard Age: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection - Softcover

A fascinating book ... from photographs of the Hindenburg in flames to saucy cartoons, this will inspire you to rummage in your attic for old treasures --Daily Mail

A brilliant example of a collector's dream postcard collection ... to leaf through The Postcard Age is to find a whole history of the 20th century - nostalgic, amusing, moving --The Lady

Lavish, highly serious and strangely compelling ... magnificent. --The Spectator

This captivating book is a visual joy ... ideal for adorning any bookshelf. --Aesthetica

A new bible for the postcard enthusiast ... page after gorgeous page. --The Birmingham Post

A glorious trip down memory lane --Elle Decoration

In the decades around 1900, postcards were Twitter, e-mail, Flickr and Facebook all wrapped into one. A postcard craze swept the globe, wreaking havoc on international postal systems and giving rise to anecdotes about overburdened postmen who had to leave bags of cards undelivered. Many of these cards were thrown away after they had served their purpose. But not all, as the craze for buying and sending postcards was married to a craze for collecting them. Millions upon millions of postcards were never posted; instead, they were tucked into boxes and albums, unused and in mint condition. Drawing on one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of postcards anywhere, The Postcard Age traces how big historical and cultural themes of the modern era played out on the postcard’s tiny canvas. Taken together, the almost 400 postcards represented in this book provide a vivid picture of the concerns, trends and pastimes of another era as well as a sampler of the artistic and historical riches offered by these messengers of the modern age.

Table of Contents

Director’s Foreword | Malcolm Rogers · Collector’s Preface: Messages from the Postcard Age | Leonard A. Lauder · Paris · The Craze · Style · About Town · Women · Famous and Familiar · Power, Speed and Flight · Making the Sale · Healthy Bodies · Around the World · The Great War