Mille Baisers: History: Early Days

Time for a short journey into the past (well, the farther past!). The postcard this blog is all about come from the 1920s and early 1930s--but where did they come from?

As you've already guessed, yes, they had ancestors. The hand-tinting, the romantic couples, even the bright colours and glitter-- none of it was new, though it certainly took a new direction in the early 1920s.

Of course, determining where exactly something starts is always difficult. From the 1890s to the mid-1910s all kinds of postcards were wildly popular, with millions sent every year. I will admit my research has not yet been exhaustive, but hand-tinted, real photo postcards featuring beautiful women (clothed!) seem to have begun to be popular in the first couple years of the 1900s. At this point many of them are already famous as actors, singers, or dancers, but anonymous women are also featured.

personal collection

Postmarked 1904, before the introduction of the split-back postcard.

This postcard, sent 1904, is not a real photo postcard, but features hand-tinting and a lot of glitter:

personal collection

By the mid 1900s, if not earlier, we see models posing as couples in commercially produced hand-tinted photo postcards:

personal collection

No date, but early 1900s-- I don't know exactly when the split-back postcard was introduced in France, but it was 1907 in the United States and from the dated postcards I have it seems to have been about the same time.

The practice of shooting multiple poses during one photoshoot and printing them as separate postcards seems to have begun early, as well as the interesting tendency of senders to buy several to send to the same person. These two from 1908:

personal collection

Poses of couples, as you can see, are very formal.

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The 'single woman' postcard never wavered in popularity:

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Probably about 1910-1915.

personal collection

While hand-tinting was common, the colours are nothing like those we see in the 1920s. Browns and pastels dominate. Most cards only have a couple colours, and they are used subtly (the opposite of this!).