A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Back
A relative term when used in reference to postcards. Because government issued postals were only printed on one side, that side was originally referred to as the front and the blank side as the back. Years after pictures became a common sight on postcards, the illustrated side became known as the front and the side with message and postage as the back. There were many transitional years when no consensus existed on definition.
Baden
Formed in the 12th century, Baden remained an independent country until it joined the German Empire in 1871. Reformed as a Grand Duchy, It became the Republic of Baden as part of the Weimar Republic in 1918. After many changes in borders following World War Two, Baden is now a State (Baden-Wurttemberg) in the southwest Federal Republic of Germany. Baden authorized the use of postcards in 1870. The printing houses of two of its cities, Freiburg and Karlsruhe, produced many postcards.
Baryta
A white powdery barium compound consisting of Barium sulfate mixed with gelatin. Baryta is used to size photo papers before the photosensitive emulsion is applied. It creates a smooth, and sometimes glossy surface to enhance image quality by providing a maximum black density to be printed. Toners can be added to baryta to change its color, and optical brighteners are used to create bright whites. Baryta papers have been used since 1885.
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius, operated in Germany between 1919-1933, for the purpose of improving people’s lives by uniting art with technology. They had an egalitarian approach believing everyone was entitled to live with art. Material shortages in the post war years were to be made up for with superior design that ignored precedent. Fine art was not differentiated from well designed goods, and they sought ways to produce products cheaply to bring them into everyday life. Unlike earlier movements that emphasized the handwork of craftsmen, the Bauhaus embraced mass production and machine made interchangeable parts. Ironically some of their best designs only exist as hand crafted prototypes. Their greatest influence was on architecture in the creation of the International Style. Thought of as communists by the Nazi regime, these artists either fled or were exiled to the Soviet Union and the United States. Here their teachings continued to grow into an influential movement. For many their ideas too often stressed utopian ideals while ignoring the realities of basic human desires.
Bavaria
A mountainous region of southeast Germany. Bavaria was incorporated into the German empire in 1871 where it was allowed to remain a Kingdom until the end of World War One. It then became a Free State of the Weimar Republic in 1919 until its collapse in 1933. Since 1949 it has been a Federal Republic of Germany. The printing houses of Bavaria produced many postcards most notably those from Nurnburg and its capitol Munich. Many postcards will make reference to their being printed in Bavaria rather than in Germany. Bavaria authorized the use of postcards in 1870.
Bed
The part of a platen press that the form is laid on, or the part of a flat cylinder press that a plate is laid on.
Bed and Platen
See Platen Press
Ben Day
A process invented in 1879 by the New York printer Benjamin Day, where a clear film holding a linear pattern of grease dots can be evenly transferred to a printing plate’s surface, in varying degrees of intensity by applying localized pressure to its back. It was often used in retouching work to add tone or color into a transfered image where it did not exist in the photograph it was taken from. Ben Day dots can easily be mistaken for a halftone screen pattern, especially when both are used on the same plate.
Bichromate
An older usage of the term dichromate, often used synonymously.
Birch Bark
The thin white bark from certain types of birch trees that have a tendency to shed off in large pieces. Being similar in consistancy to paper, this surface has been used to write on for ages. It is only natural that this material would be used to create postcards. Birch bark postcards however are homemade as there is no reliable source for bark in a consistent condition suitable for commercial printing. Because of their fragility and tendancy to curl, surviving examples of these types of cards are not common. Some publishers however have simulated this folk tradition by printing birch bark patterns as a framed border to their postcards.
Birdseye
Or bird’s eye or birds-eye is a word that appears in various incarnations on postcards. While we often use the term today to denote an aerial view from an aircraft, it was traditionally used to mean just a view from a height. While this vantage point could be little more than a medium sized hill, the term was more often applied to views from a tall structure that rose above the tree line, the most common of which was a town’s church belfry.
Black & White Photograph
A photograph in which colors have not been created by a three color photo process. Photographs tinted or painted in colors are still considered to be black and white images. Almost all old photographs however are a variant of brown, and visually true black & white images seem to be a more recent development. We know that many old photos were toned in sepia or gold, while others were printed on tinted paper or were tinted afterwards. Albumen prints were often gold toned producing a purple brown color, and the velox paper that replaced it was tinted to have a similar color, if only out of tradition. Photos with a gum dichromate emulsion often had pigments added to them, which also accounts for a number of color variations. Many unintentional factors also produce similar effects. There were no quality standards to control the purity of early processing chemicals that often left color altering residue behind, or to photo papers, which could seriously yellow. When Kodak introduced a new type of azo photo paper in 1926, it was the first time that photographers had a stable emulsion to print on. The modern papers that followed have optical brighteners added to their sizing creating the first true whites and higher contrast.
Blanket
A fabric or rubber sheet used between a printing plate and a press cylinder to equalize pressure while printing, and to protect the print from excessive abrasive ware. The blanket can be laid over the back of a print or clamped around a cylinder. Blanket cylinders, coated with rubber are also used to transfer ink from the printing plate to the paper in offset printing.
Bleed
An image where the printing extends to all the edges of the substrate. This is achieved by having the printing plates slightly larger than the final printing surface to ensure that no white areas show. In the United States and England this is usually 1/8 inch on all sides. Afterwards the paper is trimmed down to final size by cutting away a thin strip through the bleed area. It is more expensive to print an image as a bleed for excess paper and ink is discarded and it must be precisely trimmed. The alternative to a bleed is printing with a white border.
Blind Signature
The name of a photographer or publisher that is embossed into a postcard rather than being printed onto it. Blind signatures were most often used by photographers as a way of eliminating any the need for placing printing on a card. Because the card could be embossed on a small hand press or even with a hand-held stamping device it could lower the cost of production. Sometimes titles were also added onto cards in this manner. These types of signatures can be found on a card’s border or within its image area, and are always read through the front side.
Blue Photo
A term that is usually applied to a cyanotype. Blue photos may also refer to a deeply blue toned photo paper that became popular for stylized work, especially portraits from the 1920’s. These were mostly made in Europe as real photo postcards on bromide paper and they often came with heavy hand coloring.
Blue sensitive (Monochromatic)
Photographic material, either paper, film, or gelatin, that is only sensitive to the blue and ultraviolet spectrum of light. All black and white photo emulsions were monochromatic until an orthochromatic emulsion that is sensitive to green was developed by Herman Vogel in 1873. While Frederick Ives created a panchromatic emulsion, sensitive to all light in 1881, blue sensitive film continued to be used most often by photographers because of its lower cost.
Bluetone
A brand name for a monochrome postcard printed in a dark blue-green by the Albertype Company.
Booklet Postcards
A series of postcards bound together in booklet form. They had one serrated edge so they could be torn out and mailed. It is difficult to find complete booklets today as most of these types of cards have been removed from them. Booklets usually contained view-cards issued as souvenirs of tourist destinations. They became popular in Europe about 1903 but they were rarely seen in the United States until after World War One. There is currently a revival of this postcard format but the postcards are usually reproductions of earlier printed or photo images.
Bookmark Cards (Book Post Cards)
A postcard that was manufactured for use as a bookmark. This type of novelty card was printed in England between 1903 and 1904, with some being printed in Canada about 1910. Their most common size is 5 1/4 by 1 3/4 inches. They are also refered to as panel cards.
Boxer Rebellion
An uprising led by the Chinese Boxer movement in 1900 against Westerners and those under their influence as a consequence of Gunboat Diplomacy. Christian missionaries faced many of the early attacks but the Boxers went on to oppose all interests of foreign imperialism in China. After the Boxers laid siege to foreign compounds, relief forces were sent in by the United States, Japan, and European Nations that crushed the rebellion. This war led to greater foreign dominance over Chinese affairs and the eventual downfall of the Manchu Dynasty. While thousands of Americans fought in China, the postcard industry in the United States was still small at that time so most cards depicting this conflict tend to be European in origin.
Brandywine Tradition
A realistic but imaginative style that formed the foundation for American illustration at the beginning of the 20th century. Howard Pyle was already an artist of reputation when he started teaching practical illustration at the Drexel Institute of Art in Philadelphia in 1894. By 1900 he opened his own school next to his studio in Wilmington, Delaware. Pyle’s curriculum was radical for his time; rather than engage his students in endless rendering, he stressed the projection of the artist into their art to create a more animated image. He charged no tuition but his classes were hand picked. He helped to train a generation of illustrators with a strong foundation that would have a profound effect on the American graphic arts for many years. Some of his students include Edwin Austin Abbey, Harvey Dunn, Maxfield Parish, Frank Schoonover, Jessie Wilcox Smith, and N.C. Wyeth.
Broadside (Broadsheet)
A large sheet of single sided printed paper containing breaking news or official pronouncement with an illustration added to create greater notice and provide emphasis. Broadsides have long been used to disseminate public information and were often used where newspapers did not exist or were too slow to print news of immediate concern. Real photo postcards eventually replaced some broadsides by quickly dispersing visual imagery of current events. Today a broadside often refers to a large sheet of advertising.
Bromide Chrome
A trade name for a type of postcard distributed by the American News Company that were printed in continuous tone lithography. Bromide Chromes are characterized by a sharp crisp image. These cards were made in Germany.
Bromide Paper
A blue light sensitive photo paper coated with an emulsion of silver bromide in gelatin, developed by J.W. Swan in 1878. This paper is usually made with a baryta sizing to increase its brightness, and a final layer of pure gelatin for protection. Bromide papers are of medium sensitivity and can be used with an enlarger. This paper yields warm to cool black tones with a matte surface and is highly subject to tarnishing. Bromide paper is developed out and doesn’t produce as fine a gradation of tones as chloride paper, even though more expensive. As photographers stuck to the printing out papers that were easier to use, bromide found itself mostly confined to the mass commercial manufacturing of real photo postcards. This paper was more commonly used in England where it was predominantly manufactured since 1880. In 1906 the Belgian firm Gevaert & Cie invented the first chlorobromide paper under the Blue Star label. It was also a develop out paper but it produced better tonalities in a warm brown. Chlorobromide papers are now the most widely used.
Bromogravure
A trade name used by E.W. Savory to describe their postcards printed in photogravure that are similar in look to bromide photographs.
Bronzing
This method was used to create the Copper Window effect on postcards without the use of metallic inks. After the image was printed on a card an adhesive pattern would be printed over it, then dusted with a very fine metallic powder while wet. A variety of powders could be used and sometimes this process was repeated to create multiple metallic effects. Bronzing was meant to convey the illusion of illuminated or glistening light. Sometimes this process was used to create pure graphic decoration. Reichner Brothers held the patent on this process. This method should not be confused with images that had metallic inks printed over them. Printing will produce a sharply defined edge while those cards with bronzing tend to have rounder and softer outlines.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
A traveling show that recreated historical events of the American West with much added license, interspersed with acts of showmanship such as sharp shooting and trick riding. This show was an inspiration of William F. Cody, created in the time of the last Indian Wars and the growing romanticism around them. The show opened at the 1883 World Columbian Exposition, then took to the road touring large cities, especially in the East. The show also toured Europe where it was very popular. It consisted of hundreds of talented riders and notable figures including many Native Americans. The last of these shows took place as the First World War began and they would eventually be replaced by the cheeper to stage rodeos. Under the guise of authenticity, Cody did much to create the mythology of the Wild West. Many postcards were produced with Buffalo Bill themes both in the United States and in Europe.
Bureus
A type of box specifically manufactured for the storage of collected postcards popular in the early days of postcard collecting. They were designed for the easy handling of large quantities of cards and often came with dividers so the cards could be sorted.
Businessman’s Cards
A type of postcard larger than average size used exclusively for advertising. They were introduced in 1897 when allowed by new postal regulations. These cards were manufactured in three basic sizes. One was only slightly larger than the average size card and was occasionally die cut into shapes. The more common size for a Businessman’s card was about 8 by 10 inches. Many times they contained nothing but text but elaborate graphics and illustration were also used on them. There was also a larger jumbo size available. They were the forerunners of what would eventually be called Novelty Cards, for in addition to being die cut into shapes they had three dimensional objects glued to them, or had mechanical parts that let them move. They were used until 1900 when postal regulations changed once again. Since many cards were too fragile to mail without a cover they did not always have postcard backs but were often filled with advertising instead. Many of these large cards never entered the mails at all as they were often given out by hand or used for wall displays in shops.
