Dating of Russian pre-revolutionary postcards

Dating (or, in a broader sense, attribution) of old postcards is sometimes a very difficult task. We have already briefly touched on this issue. Sometimes the date (usually the year) was directly indicated on the postcard, but more often than not, the publishers did not. It is possible to determine the approximate date of printing of the postcard if the postcard went through the mail. Often the sender indicated the date of writing the postcard either at the beginning of the message or (less often) at its end. Also, postmarks, if they are clearly legible, allow us to determine the dates of receipt of the postcard at the sender's post office and the recipient's post office. In these cases, we can confidently determine the date no later than which the postcard was printed. Obviously, before the sender writes a message on the postcard, he will need to at least purchase it, and before that it must be delivered to the place of sale from the printing house. This period is difficult to determine, but it can be assumed that in large cities the time that passed from the moment a postcard was printed in a printing house until it went on sale could take several days, at a minimum. If part of the print run was sent for sale to regions or other countries, and especially when the print run was printed abroad, which was not uncommon, this time, for obvious reasons, increased.

Open letter. Went through the mail in 1879. Single-color print. Size 12.4 x 8.8 cm. Judging by the size of the open letter form, it was printed before the standards were approved by the Second Universal Postal Congress in 1878. A postage stamp is printed in the upper right corner. The coat of arms of the Russian Empire is printed in the upper left corner. The address side contains the notice: 1. Nothing else is allowed to be written on this side except the address. 2. The Postal Administration is not responsible for the contents of the letter.

Open letter. Single-color print. Size 14.0 x 9.3 cm. The coat of arms of Russia is printed in the upper left corner. A postage stamp worth 4 kopecks is printed in the upper right corner. This form is already printed in accordance with the standards of the Universal Postal Union.

The method of printing postcards does not make the dating process much easier. Especially if we consider that pre-press preparation, for example, of lithographic postcards, could take several months. In addition, the use of one or another printing method often depended not on the development of technical progress, but on the presence or absence of the appropriate printing equipment at the publisher. Therefore, here we can talk about rather conditional time limits associated with the earliest appearance of one or another printing technology, as well as the type of cardboard or paper.

A postage stamp attached to a postcard can help to date it very, very approximately, since the appearance and face value of stamps have not changed for a long time. Only the presence of semi-postal (charity) and jubilee stamps on postcards in combination with other features can somehow help in attributing postcards. By the way, even at present, when postage stamps often indirectly indicate the year of their issue (for example, on jubilee stamps), it is also not easy to determine the age of a postcard, since the time of purchase of the postcard by the sender and the stamp attached to it can be separated in time by decades, while the stamp itself could have been lying with the sender for some time.

It is easy to determine the time frame for printing postcards based on what is depicted on them. For example, a postcard dedicated to an event cannot be printed before this event occurred. This applies to various political, military and cultural events (such as battles, theatrical performances, exhibitions, speeches by famous people, etc.), natural disasters, accidents, etc. Also, the construction or, conversely, the demolition of some architectural objects, monuments, restoration work that led to noticeable changes in the appearance of such objects, certain objects or mechanisms (cars, bicycles, locomotives, airplanes, etc.), posters or advertising of goods that ended up on a postcard can significantly help in determining the time, if not the printing of the postcards, then at least the date of the photo taken for printing on this postcard.

The publisher's imprint and the design of its trademark on the postcard can also serve as a help for attribution if there is information about the time of the appearance of a particular publishing house (or printing house) or, conversely, its closure.

Trademark of the publishing house "Community of St. Eugenia". During its existence, "Community" published more than 6400 different postcards in a print run of more than 30 million copies. The publishing house did not have its own printing house and the print runs were printed elsewhere. The logo of the publishing house changed many times, but its constant element was a red cross framed by a floral ornament. From left to right: the logo printed on postcards in 1901-1902, the logo of 1902-1903, the logo of 1903-1904.

But below we will talk about the external features related to the postcards themselves, issued in Russia, that can be used to date a particular postcard with an accuracy of sometimes up to several years. These include the division of the back of the postcard by a vertical line into two parts - the address and the message, the set of mandatory inscriptions on the postcard, their spelling, etc. In other words, knowing the history of changes in the external appearance of a postcard makes it easier for collectors to attribute it.

So, here are some external signs for dating postcards:

Postcard size. The standard adopted at the Second World Postal Congress in 1878 defined the size of a postcard as 14 by 9 cm. All pre-revolutionary postcards in Russia corresponded to this size. Only in 1925 did they begin to print postcards measuring 14.8 by 10.5 cm.

Spelling. It is obvious that the spelling reform, which led to a change in the spelling and the exclusion of some letters from the Russian alphabet, was reflected, albeit not immediately, in the printing of postcards. Having begun in 1917, the reform continued for at least the entire next year. And the farther from the capitals, the later its visible results became visible. During the Civil War, some territories not controlled by the Soviet government continued to use the pre-reform style of writing. But, nevertheless, the lower time frame (not earlier than 1917) for some postcards printed taking into account the reform can be determined.

Until October 19, 1894, postcards for the Russian postal service were printed exclusively by the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers, which was part of the Ministry of Finance. Private publishers were not allowed to print postcards. Therefore, an indication of a private publisher on a postcard could only appear at the very end of 1894. The basic requirements for postcards issued by private publishers were no different from those for state postcards. The exception was a ban on private publishers printing the state emblem and stamp on the postcard. However, it was allowed (with certain restrictions) to print decorations in the form of vignettes and advertising on the back of the postcard. The address side of postcards printed for circulation within the Universal Postal Union was required to contain the inscriptions in Russian and French “Universal Postal Union. Russia” and “Open Letter”.

The message field on this postcard features an advertisement for coffee from the S. Siu & Co. coffee trading house. The top of the back has the inscriptions in Russian and French, "Universal Postal Union. Russia" and "Open Letter." After 1904.

The earliest illustrated postcards appeared in Russia in 1895.

On February 16, 1904, the Main Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs issued a circular allowing the side of the postcard form intended for the address to contain not only the address, as had been prescribed previously, but also the text of the message. For this purpose, it was divided by a vertical line. The right margin was intended for sticking on the stamp, postmark and address. The left margin was used for the message. Obviously, publishers did not immediately begin printing postcards with a divided side, previously intended only for the address. The first examples of such postcards date back to the summer of 1904. Abroad, similar steps were not taken by member countries of the Universal Postal Union at the same time. Great Britain was the first to do so, in 1902. France did so in the same year as Russia, and Germany only a year later, in 1905.

A postcard that went through the mail in early summer 1906. The back of the form contains an inscription in Russian and French stating that only the address is allowed to be written on it. However, the address side is divided into two parts by a vertical line. Obviously, the sender is already aware that the rules for filling in the address side have changed, and has divided this side with a line himself.

Until April 20, 1906, the postcards indicated the date of permission for printing from the censorship committee. From then on, prior censorship permission was not required for printing postcards, since control over printed publications began to be carried out after their publication. During the First World War, some postcards again featured inscriptions with references to permission for printing from the military censorship.

On September 7, 1908, the requirement for the mandatory presence of the inscription “Open Letter” on postcards from private publishers was cancelled, and on May 1, 1909, this inscription was replaced by another one – “Postal Card”, which was a tracing from most European languages – post card, postkarte, carte postale, cartolina postale, etc. Here again it should be emphasized that later, several years later, postcards were published that still had the inscription “Open Letter”.

A postcard from the First World War. In the lower right corner along the bottom edge is the inscription: "Petrograd. Permitted by military censorship 15-x-1916." At the same time, the postcard has the inscription "Open letter", although the requirement for such an inscription was cancelled back in 1908, and in 1909 this inscription was replaced by the phrase "Postal card".

The pictorial side of a postcard can also provide some clues to its dating. On early postcards, issued before the beginning of the 20th century, the image on the postcard occupied from one to two thirds of its area. Then the image began to take up more and more space, leaving only a narrow strip (usually) along the bottom or (less often) right edge for the text of the message. This limitation of free space forced senders to resort to various epistolary tricks: to write the text along all four edges and even on the image itself. However, with the division of the address side by a vertical line and the appearance of a special field for the message, postcards with a strip below or to the right of the image gradually began to disappear from sale.

The postcard was sent in the mail in May 1906. Despite the fact that it had been allowed to write a message on the address side for more than two years, many senders, apparently out of habit, continued to pour out their thoughts on the front side of the card. However, the author of this particular message is quite an original.

Sources:

Zabochen M. From the history of the introduction of the open letter in Russia. - Philately of the USSR, 1972, No. 4

Larina A.N. Illustrated postcard: issues of attribution. — Bulletin of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Series: Literary studies. Linguistics. Cultural studies. 2012, No. 6

Tretyakov V.P. Open letters of the Silver Age . - St. Petersburg, Slavia, 2000