Customer Reviews

The Postcard Century

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those books that pops up and you wonder why no one had thought of it before. Just flick through it and be amazed at what was issued on the front of a postcard. It could be said, in the broadest sense, that these images do reflect the history of the last century.

With excellent printing and mostly six cards to the page, author Phillips includes a few words about each picture and then he comes up with a neat idea: include the written messages from the sender. So as well as some striking images you get the feelings and observations of 2000 people.

How many books could be opened at any page and the contents immediately grab your interest? This is one of those books. Strangely, the Amazon sample pages don't show any of the year by year pages which make up ninety five percent of this book.

100 years of postcards (although they are older than that).

Thousands of postcard images help illuminate the history of the postcard over the past hundred years. The book is broken out into decades to make the history a little easier.

This is an excellent resource book for postcard fans and collectors. All aspects of postcards seem to be covered. One of the best such books in my collection (and certainly the biggest).

This is my third pass through this lengthy and thoroughly engaging book. While I'm not a normal fan of postcards, reading this book makes me want to rush out to the nearest flea market and see what I can find.

The best aspect of this book is that the author presents each postcard in terms of the publishing history, the story on the card, and the general scene on the card. The wonderfuly dry, British humor really makes me laugh out loud at time. His commentary on the postcards meant to woo a significant other are quite amusing.

This book will truly engage you in ways you would never imagine. It also is a great way to learn odd facts from history that have largely passed from our collective memories. These postcards bring them back for our consideration.

This is a fabulous book that you will find hard to put back down.

Tom Phillips has captured the quest for collecting postcards with an eclectic mix of cards from the last century. We may view old postcards as nostalgic (for a history that never was), but when printed the card often pictured the latest thing. Being English, there are many Winston Churchill cards (as early as 1908), Prince Charles, the Queen, and Margaret Thatcher. There are plenty of cards for Americans, and a 1960 Nixon card is a favorite, as well as the original Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1947. In each year, a card from Piccadilly Circus and the New York skyline are included, as well as 10-15 other subjects. The cards reflect the changes of the time but also constancy, and many of the old jokes and statuesque women are recycled in each decade.

Tom Phillip's artist eye is really used. Phillips commentary of each card is informative, sometimes humorous, sometimes irreverent, but always interesting and range from comments on punk fashion to statement about Kierkegaard liking a joke on a cow card. His pairing of cards is also enlightening: e.g. the King's head dress in 1935 is printed next to a Fiji headhunter head dress. A person's cards selection may be a Rorschach test, and I don't know what the fascination with camels (4 cards) tells us about this author. No matter what your interest or home, there are certainly cards to delight you here. A 1996 card of spaceships over St. Louis was a personal favorite.

This book goes a long way in making the case that this was the golden century of postcards. I can't imagine a book in 2099 with a similar collection, or a printing of emails. Phillips includes the writing on the cards also, and these also reflect the times and a certain concise but revealing formula. Those who enjoyed the messages of these cards would also enjoy Robert Butler's book " Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards

I bought this book for my mom, and then had to have a copy for myself. This contains thousands of postcard images, as well as the messages. The images include famous architecture and people, comics and pop culture of a hundred years, and the messages give us a glimpse of everyday life throughout the last century. Hours and hours of browsing enjoyment, especially for postcard collectors!

This provides good reading for both the postcard collector and the "history buff". I WAS a bit disappointed that about 85% of the cards are from the UK, but hey, so is the writer. It's just that I find the "Brits" a bit reserved in their letter-writing (the written message on the cards is presented). It's a great book for a long winter's read (I'm only up to 1938).

Thank goodness for Tom Phillips. This postcard-filled volume is packed with images and texts created by countless sets of hands and eyes. There are few artist/thinkers today who could create order out of this chaos, and Phillips has done so delightfully. Featuring a multitude of stories within its overarching theme, The Postcard Century reveals its numerous histories with insight and charm.

In essence this book is a year by year photographic history of the postcard that completely spans the 20th century.When I first picked it up I had personal resevations about it, purely because my postcard interest is solely about cards no more recent than the 1950`s and therefore expected almost a half of the book to be of no relevance.To my surprise the book proved thoroughly interesting right throughout to 1999.
Each year is displayed with many fine examples shown along with a historical and objective commentary that traces both the developement of the postcard and also a fascinating social commentary centred around comments written on the back by the senders themselves.
In conclusion this book I am sure would appeal to all with any degree of interest in postcards and even anyone with an interest in the history of the 20th century.This was borne out by my fascination even with the post 1950`s pages.For the first time I could see why some people only collect modern postcards.Unless one is looking for a priceguide/valuation aspect [not touched on]I would recommended unconditionally...

Excellant book in every way. Great pictures, and descriptions. Do not buy this book if you are looking for a price guide, as it is not set up for that purpose. A great book for the postcard historian. Divided into years, it can be a great asset to a collector who is trying to date cards in his or her collection.

I love this book. Maybe that's because I m interested in other people lifes? Every postcard is a piece from someone's life. A marriage, a holliday, or just few words. Tragedies and joys. And the postcards themselves: what a superb way to show our changing century. I gave four stars not because I don't like it really. Simply - 5 stars is only for couple of best of books. But this one is "only" great.