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

Valesque
A trade name for a type of postcard issued by Valentine’s during the 1950’s. These cards have a similar halftone pattern to that of Valentine’s Art Colour cards, but here the hues blend easily to create more optical colors. This may be an early form of offset printing.

Variations
A general reference to postcards reproduced from the same photograph but look different from one another. Almost all variations are created during a postcards reprinting. In most cases this was unavoidable on early cards as photographically produced images were retouched by hand to add in color and skies. The skies appearance on most cards was derived from an artist’s imagination by necessity. Between poor exposure latitude and the inability of most film to capture anything more than blue light, the sky was most often washed out to white. When an image was remade there was nothing on the negative to refer to, so clouds were drawn in differently each time. Because the negatives used were also in black and white, the publisher would sometimes request specific colors, but most often they were just made up. Again this was rarely ever duplicated and can vary wildly between reprinting. Other factors that created variations were sometimes purposeful. An undivided back card with a front tab for writing may have been reissued as a full frontal bleed when postal regulations changed. Cars and people were sometimes removed or altered to match fashions currently in style. The images taken from large negatives were often cropped and when reprinted cropped differently. Because it was difficult to photograph in low light the night scenes on cards used the same negative as the midday version; they were only printed in darker colors with a moon added in for effect. Sometimes variations were created when the negative was just taken to a new printer that used a different method of production. In later years, publishers reprinted old negatives to save money. Others printed variations in an attempt to disguise stolen images protected by copyright laws. (See Variations in the Guide section)

Varnishing
A thin protective coating of drying oils and resins, applied to a dry printed surface. This coating helps prevent the ink from smudging and contaminants from being absorbed into the paper. It can also add a glossy surface that enhances appearance. The varnishing on some postcards has created serious yellowing as they aged, while on others their surfaces now suffer from cracking where varnish was applied too thickly.

Velox Paper (Swift)
A silver chloride developed out photo paper in a gelatin base claimed to be invented by Leo Baekeland of the Nepra Chemical Company in New York, to replace the deficient albumen papers then in use. It had baryta sizing whose smooth finish provided high sharpness and good tonal range. The paper originally was made with a pink tint to simulate the familiar purple brown cast of albumen photos. While much faster than older papers it had the unusual quality of being able to be handled in low light. Kodak purchased the rights to this process in 1899, but they still needed to purchase baryta paper from Germany until they built their own factory in 1906. Photo papers were traditionally made on thin stock until 1902 when Kodak introduced a heavier stock Velox with a preprinted postcard back. This marked the beginning of real photo postcard production. Its success drove other companies to manufacture their own versions of photo paper such as Argo, Cyko, Kruxo, and more. Velox paper was produced until 1988.

Verlag & Druck
German for published and printed. Sometimes found as a prefix to the name of a printing house on German made postcards. Verlag or Verlgbuchhandlung is sometimes used used on German, Swiss, or Austrian cards as a prefix to indicate a publishers name.

Vidal Process
(See Photochromie)

View-Card
A postcard that depicts any type of view whether it is of a landscape or of buildings. These cards can be sorted by geographical location if they are labeled with such information.

View Master
A product line developed by the Sawyer Scenic Photo Company in 1938. It consisted of a disk containing seven transparent stereoviews that could be viewed either with the aid of a special hand device or projected. The View Master replaced their production of real photo postcards.

Vinegar Valentine
An insulting valentine first published by John McLaughin’s New York publishing house in 1858. They were often sent anonymously to someone who was disliked. Vinegar valentines were first printed as cheap paper cards, then later as postcards well into the 1940’s. Postmasters confiscated tens of thousands of these cards deemed unfit for the mail.

Visual Spectrum
The spatial arrangement of components of radiant electromagnetic energy in order of their wavelengths that appear to us as white light or its color components. The visual spectrum is relative as it can vary between species.

V-Mail
Short for Victory Mail. It was introduced in Casablanca on June 15th, 1942 after the first American troops landed in North Africa. It was designed to save valuable cargo space on oversees shipments. Correspondence was written on special forms, microfilmed, and then reprinted at reduced size back in the States. A 7-ounce roll of film could contain 1500 letters. When the service ended on April 1st of 1945, a total of 556,513,795 pieces of V-mail had been sent from the United States to military post offices, and over 510 million pieces had been received from military personnel abroad. Regular paper mail during years still outnumbered these figures. V-mail was modeled after a similar service in Britain known as Airgraph’s.