How did postcards come into use?
First POSTCARD
The first POSTCARD was copyrighted by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia in 1861. The rights were acquired by Philadelphia stationer Hyman L. Lipman, who issued the cards printed with a decorative border pattern and the words ‘Lipman’s Postal Card, Patent Applied For’. They remained on sale until the introduction of the first US Post Office official postcard issue of 1873.
The first OFFICIAL PREPAID POSTCARDS were issued by the Austrian Post Office on 1 October 1869 following a suggestion by Dr Emmanuel Herrmann of the Wiener Neustadt Military Academy. The straw-coloured cards bore a 2 kreuzer stamp. During the first two months of issue no fewer than 2,930,000 cards were sold, part of the attraction being that no extra charge was made beyond the cost of the stamp.
