COLLECTING: HAVING A GREAT TIME IN EDWARDIAN BRITAIN

At the turn of the century every home had an album of prized picture postcards. Now interest in these; tiny works of art is booming again. Madeleine Marsh reveals how to build up a first-class collection

The first British postcard was mailed on 1 October 1870, today the Post Office carries around 70 million each year. Early purchasers weren't attracted by the pictures but price. The plain, buff-coloured cards were already printed with a halfpenny stamp, half the cost of sending a letter. Not that the postcard was without its teething troubles, but in spite of initial fears about the postmen and servants being able to read private messages, they soon caught on.

Initially the Post Office stipulated that one side had to be left completely undecorated for the stamp and address, and on the other side any illustration had to be combined with the message. When these regulations were lifted in 1902, the advent of the picture postcard created an instant collecting craze. No Edwardian drawing room was complete without an album filled with postcards of actresses, public figures, seaside views and comic scenes. There might also be another album, concealed in a drawer in father's study, containing another favourite subject (a French speciality): the naughty postcard.

"People collect from all periods right up to the present," says Ken Lawson of Special Postcard Auctions, "but the golden age for the postcard was from 1902 up until the First World War. The cards made then were high in quality and give you a real sense of history, how the world once looked and how quickly things can change."

Over half of his collectors concentrate on top-ographical cards: rural and urban views from home and abroad. And many of these scenes look curiously empty, peopled with a lone cyclist or a single tradesman standing outside his shop. They make the Edwardian world look like a dangerously under-populated place, but this actually has more to do with photographic technology. Early cameras, with their slow shutter speeds, made capturing movement difficult, so photographers would set up while the streets were quiet. As a result, today's collectors are prepared to pay more for animated pictures showing scenes of daily life, such as the milkman doing his rounds, and those containing some form of vintage transport - the horse-drawn carriage or early motorised vehicles.

A popular and gruesome sideline was photographs of the latter crashing. "Nothing gets people going like a good disaster, then as today," says Lawson. "Especially collectable are cards of famous train crashes and shipwrecks, but road accidents, fires and floods are other strong sellers." In this case, the writing on the back can enhance the card's value. "Messages are only important if they tie in with the picture on the front. A classic example would be a card of the Titanic, posted before boarding, saying 'See you in New York'. Titanic cards regularly make over pounds 100."

But just as popular as disasters are another great British speciality, the saucy comic card. Donald McGill (1875-1962) is the most famous name in the field. In a career that lasted over 50 years he produced some 3,000 designs, creating popular archetypes such as the fat lady in the stripy bathing suit, her skinny henpecked husband, and the immortal one-liner "I can't find my little Willie." McGill was so prolific that his postcards can still be bought for as little as 50p. Other great comic artists to look out for are John Hassall, Tom Browne, Phil May and George Studdy, creator of Bonzo the dog.

A name that has become even better known is that of an East End butcher's daughter, Mabel Lucie Attwell (1879-1964). Attwell had married the artist and illustrator Charles Earnshaw, but after he lost his right arm in the First World War, it was up to her to support the family. By the Twenties she had become a household name with her pictures of sickly-sweet, bun- faced infants, many of which were produced as postcards, and are now highly sought after. Another favourite is Louis Wain (1860-1939), cat supremo, who in his heyday painted up to 600 feline pictures a year. Wain became internationally celebrated and the postcard-buying public loved his work. But as the illustrator succumbed to schizophrenia, his cat drawings became manic and frenzied. Wain ended his days in poverty in a mental asylum. This year, a Louis Wain postcard of a cat dressed up as Aladdin fetched a record pounds 275.

The quality of postcards inevitably dropped during the First World War, but some of the most moving examples date from this period. Soldiers at the Front bought silk-covered cards embroidered with sentimental messages and patriotic flags to send to their families back home. Because of wartime restrictions, messages were poignantly brief and to the point: "Love to you and the kids and don't forget Mum ... Somewhere in France". On the Front itself, glamour cards showing photographs of professional beauties were collected by the troops as pin-ups.

Postcards also played their part in the Second World War. In 1943, to help plan the Allied invasion of Europe, the Admiralty requested that the public send in picture postcards of French seaside resorts and ports. And postcard historian CW Hill has explained how postcards were used as propaganda when, in 1940, German aircraft bombarded the French Maginot Line with cards. These pictured French soldiers dying in action beneath an empty sky inscribed with the words "Ou le Tommy est-il reste?" ("Where's Tommy?"). When the card was held up to the light, a hidden scene was revealed showing Tommy disporting himself with half-naked French floozies.

Postcard collecting fell from grace after the First World War, however, and during the Second many vintage albums were put out for paper salvage. It wasn't until the Seventies that interest in the hobby revived. Today, with prices beginning at well under pounds 5, it is still one of the few affordable areas of the antiques market. Cards beginning to break the pounds 100 barrier include Art Nouveau examples by artists such as Alphons Mucha (1860-1939) and Raphael Kirchner (1876-1917), and good sets of "What the Butler Saw" nudie pictures, with chubby Edwardian Misses performing a card-by-card striptease. This year also saw a record price of pounds 1,600 paid in the US for a 1909 Coca-Cola advertisement card.

As a collectible, the postcard is almost inexhaustible. Ralph Lund, editor of Picture Postcard Monthly, says it's worth building up a collection of modern examples, such as cards showing the works of contemporary artists and fashion designers or pictures celebrating specific events.

"I've got a great collection of 1982-84 miners'-strike cards, a good set of Falklands War pictures, and lots of Margaret Thatcher cards," enthuses Lund. "You look at the events and people and think they only happened yesterday, but already they are history and very collectable."

For Lund, nostalgia is the major impetus behind card collecting. "Whatever its period, a good card has to capture the spirit of its age," he concludes. "You want to know a card that sums up the Nineties? Well, you won't go far wrong with Princess Diana."

'Picture Postcard Monthly' magazine is available by subscription from 15 Debdale Lane, Keyworth Nottingham NG12 5HT (0115 937 4079). Postcard auctions take place at Corinium Galleries, 25 Gloucester Street, Cirencester GL7 2DJ (01285 659057). Postcard Fairs: 16 November, National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull; 23 November, Royal Nation Hotel, Russell Square, London. 'Picture Postcards' by CW Hill is published by Shire Publications at pounds 1.95. 'Miller's Collectables Price Guide 1998/99' is published in March (01580 7664121)

Postcards from left to right: four Bonzo the dog cards by George Studdy, published by Valentine and Sons in the 1930s, now valued at pounds 4- 5 each; four cards by Lawson Wood from the 'Gran'pop' series, also published by Valentine and Sons, circa 1935, pounds 3-6 each

Two David Wilson postcards in the 'Celesque' series published by Photochrom Co in 1907, pounds 1-3 each; two cards in the 'Write-Aways' series, published by E Wrench Ltd, circa 1905, pounds 3-5 each; cards depicting names as the three shown here from 1907 (worth pounds 1-2 each) were popular in the Edwardian period

Three postcards by Philip Boileau from the 'Glamour' series, circa 1910, pounds 5-6 each; two cards from the 'Bamforth Song' series, circa 1914. Soldiers sent sets of these to their sweethearts during the First World War; four 1930s cards from Valentine's 'Attwell' series by East End butcher's daughter, Mabel Lucie Attwell, pounds 3-6 each