Polo.G’s Summer cards … finally the summer has blossomed and the desire for holidays and fun, to remember with a unique and precious thought!
The first illustrated postcards appeared in Karlsruhe (Germany) in 1865 with Henrich von Stephan (Słupsk, 1831 – Berlin, 1897), a senior official of the Prussian post office, during the V ^ Postal Conference of the States of the German Confederation.
The idea of using
“A card printed and pre-stamped by the state authority, to be sent at reduced rates and without envelope […] was not immediately accepted but rather was considered by many an absurdity, inconvenient and even immoral, since before then no one had ever dared to send private messages with a content open and visible to all. “(from RUSCIO in postcard: images memories and greetings from a village in the Valle del Corno, by Stefano Vannozzi, Series I quaderni di Ruscio, No. 10, 2015, p.7)
Fortunately for us and the history, the economic returns and the practicality of the postcard that was being born stimulated the economics professor Emanuel Hermann (Klagenfurt, 1839 – Vienna 1902), who pushed for a faster methods of sending messages to make more efficient the postal service replenishes the coffers of the state administration.
With the publication of the January 26, 1869 thesis on the newspaper Neue Freie Presse, the public consensus was so wide that already the first of October of the same year the first postcard was printed, the Correspondenz Karte (correspondence card) with the portrait of the emperor Franz Joseph on the two Kreuzer preprinted stamp on white cardboard of 12.2 x 8.5 cm with a white writing space.
The idea, which had at first been a scandal, officially sold three million postcards in just the Austro-Hungarian Empire in three months.
In November 1870 in France the bookseller Leòn Besnardeau (1829 – 1914) of Sillé – le – Guillaume, following the beginning of the Franco – Prussian war, printed in military images on the reused covers of old notebooks with patriotic inscriptions in rectangles of cm 6 x 9 obtaining a wide recognition at home.
In Italian territory we have to wait until January 1st 1874 to see officially printed the first postal card called intero postale (whole postal) of 11.5 x 8 cm, with the Royal Decree n. 1442 of June 23, 1873 with a postal tax of 10 cents, increased to 15 cents if they included a reply to the prepaid letter.
The Savoy coat of arms appeared on the postcard and the preprinted stamp obviously showed the profile of King Vittorio Emanuele II; those that included a reply were in double perforated cardboard along the tear to be made to send back the second part.
With the World Congress of the Universal Postal Union of 1878 the most recent maximum dimensions of 14 x 9 cm were fixed, but it is thanks to the initiative of traders and wholesalers who, paying a minimal fee to the governmental authority, began to print true and authentic from 1890 own advertising illustrations on the free high of the postcard, adding a stamp of the business.
(Photo: UPU symbol taken from newspostali.wordpress.com)
From 1895 in the Italian State the use illustrated to the commemorative sector widens, first of all for the XXV Anniversary of the capture and liberation of Rome capital and subsequently for the wedding of the various rulers.
On a private level the Grüsse aus / Greetings from, in Germany from 1872, spread in France from 1875, in Rome we have to officially wait for 1889 with the Typography Danesi of Napole (1809 – 1887), and they were illustrated with vacationers and landscape views in lithographic print.
Finally in 1891 the French Dominique Piazza (Marseille, 1860 – 1941) printed the first postcard illustrated with a photograph which became polychrome in subsequent developments of the 1900s and reached the standard dimensions of 12 x 16.5 cm and 14.8 x 15 cm officially adopted in 1925 by the Universal Postal Union (UPU, a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Berne).
A fascinating story that accompanies the birth of each new picture postcard!
The Polo.G’s Summer cards tell about your holidays, your desire for summer and fun and they do it with a refined touch, because they are original and unique reproductions of works of art by the international artist Gentile Polo.
Live the Summer with us!
With Polo.G’s Summer cards, your holiday cards, the Art Studio Gentile Polo offers the chance to experience your emotions and tell about your summer with taste and originality.
The Polo.G’s Summer cards are many, all to choose and collect, and you can find them in authorized retailers and on our sites:
http://www.facebook.com/pg/ArtePoloG/
http://www.studio-martorelli.net/polo-gentile/
And book them directly at +39 335 607 9154 STUDIO D’ARTE GENTILE POLO (Roveré della Luna – Tn, IT).
In the case of multiple or wholesale purchases it is possible to request, on booking, the printing in personalized postcard of paintings chosen directly by the artist’s gallery.
(Lucia Martorelli – Gentile Polo Art Studio)