Petercsák Tivadar: A képes levelezőlap története (Miskolc, 1994)

HISTORY OF PICTURE POSTCARDS

metal plate, glass, gobelin, embroidered, with paper, hair, applied flower and artificial flower, with pearl-powder, optical tricks, illuminable, gramophone disc and individually drawn picture postcards. Picture postcard collecting In the „golden era" of the picture card (1900-1925) it was usual in every bourgeois family to keep a picture postcard album, in which were gathered, without selection, landscapes, genre-pictures and holiday cards. This was popular particularly among young women. These albums were on the table of the sitting room together with the family photograph albums, and it was proper that the guests should look at them. The picture postcard was the most fashionable in Germany. A comedy called Picture Postcard hit the stage in Paris in 1903. By the 1890s the picture postcard had already aroused the interest of collectors. It became a separate branch of collecting, collectors' clubs and organizations were estabished. In western Europe picture card collecting associations were formed and special periodicals were published. The gathering of picture postcards was began in Hungary in 1897. In 1899 the first Hungarian picture post-card collecting association was established the Hungária. It had 2040 members in 1900. At the turn of the century several picture-postcard periodicals helped the collectors. An international picture postcard exhibition was held in Budapest, for the first time where 17 collectors took part. The second international exhibition was held in 1968, and in 1970 another exhibition was held for the centenary of the picture postcard in Budapest. Today it is again fashionable to collect picture postcards. The basis of the picture postcard collection at the Zemplén Museum was the private collection of a local doctor, dr. László Petrikovics. He gave his collection of 400 000 cards, including historical, ethnical material and an ex-libris collection, to the museum being established in Szerencs. The collection is continously being enriched by donations and purchases. The Publishing Company of the Foundation of Fine Arts sends yearly a copy of the cards it has published. Several thematical exhibitions have been from the material of the collection having great cultural and historical value. Its material can be of benefit to researchers, and scientists. The old pictures can be utilized in the making of documentary and feature films.