Editing Postcard (section)

==Glossary of terminology==
Most of the terms on this list were devised by modern collectors to describe cards in their possession. For the most part, these terms were not used contemporaneously by publishers or others in the industry.

;3D Postcard
:Postcards with artwork that appears in 3D. This can be done with different techniques, such as [[lenticular printing]] or hologram.

;[[Advertising postcard|Advertising Postcard]]
:Specialist marketing companies in many countries produce and distribute advertising postcards which are available for free. These are normally offered on wire rack displays in plazas, coffee shops and other commercial locations, usually not intended to be mailed.

;Appliqué
:A postcard that has some form of cloth, metal or other embellishment attached to it.

;Art Déco
:Artistic style of the 1920s, recognizable by its symmetrical designs and straight lines.

[[File:FolliesBergereBoxCostume.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Folies Bergère]] costume, {{Circa|1900|lk=no}}]]
;Art Nouveau
:Artistic style of the turn of the century, characterized by flowing lines and flowery symbols, yet often depicting impressionist more than representational art.

;Artist Signed
:Postcards with artwork that has the artist's signature, and the art is often unique for postcards.

;Bas Relief
:Postcards with a heavily raised surface, giving a papier-mâché appearance.

;Big Letter
:A postcard that shows the name of a place in very big letters that do not have pictures inside each letter ''(see also Large Letter)''.

;Composites
:A number of individual cards, that when placed together in a group, form a larger picture.  Also called "installment" cards.

;[[Court card (postcard)|Court Card]]
:The official size for British postcards between 1894 and 1899, measuring {{convert|115|×|89|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}.

;Divided Back
:Postcards with a back divided into two sections, one for the message, the other for the address. British cards were first divided in 1902 and American cards in 1907.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=http://www.metropostcard.com/card09postdivided.html|title=Post Card undivided|last=Petrulis|first=Alan|website=www.metropostcard.com|access-date=2020-04-01|archive-date=2020-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213182126/http://www.metropostcard.com/card09postdivided.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

;Early
:Any card issued before the ''divided back'' was introduced (pre-1907).

;Embossed
:Postcards with a raised surface.

;[[Exaggeration Postcards|Exaggeration]]
:Postcards featuring impossibly large animals and crops, created using [[trick photography]] and other methods.

;Folded
:Postcards that are folded, so that they have at least 4 pages. Most folded cards need to be mailed inside an envelope, but there are some that can be mailed directly.

[[Image:Oura Tenshudo Temple.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ōura Church]], hand-tinted postcard]]

;Hand-tinted
:Black-and-white images were tinted by hand using watercolors and stencils.

;Hold-to-Light
:Also referred to as 'HTL', postcards often of a night time scene with cut out areas to show the light.

;Intermediate Size
:The link between Court Cards and Standard Size, measuring {{convert|130|×|80|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}.

;Kaleidoscope
:Postcards with a rotating wheel that reveals a myriad of colours and patterns when turned.

[[File:Greetings from Los Angeles, California (63828).jpg|thumb|"Large Letter" card {{Circa|1940s|lk=no}}]]
;[[Large-letter postcard|Large Letter]]
:A postcard that has the name of a place shown as a series of very large letters, inside of each of which is a picture of that locale ''(see also Big Letter)''.

;Maximum Card
:Postcards with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card and tied by the cancellation, usually the first day of issue.

;Midget Postcard
:Novelty cards of the size {{convert|90|×|70|mm|in|2|abbr=on}}.

;Novelty
:Any postcard that deviates from the norm. These include cards which do something (such as mechanical postcards) or which have articles attached to them.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|url=http://www.collectorsjournal.com/barrspcn/news/novelty-leather-postcards/article_f9b3d069-d3fc-5710-87dc-c298441391c5.html|title=Novelty leather postcards|date=2016-11-21|website=Barr's Postcard News & Ephemera|quote=Novelty postcards include Hold-to-lights, Die-cuts, leather, silk or metal applied, printed on silk, burnt wood, mechanical and on and on. They are just about anything but the flat printed or real photo postcards. One category is postcards made of leather.}}</ref> They could also be printed in an unusual size or shape, or made of strange materials (including leather, wood, metal, silk, or coconut).<ref name=":13" />

;Oilette
:A trade name used by London publisher [[Raphael Tuck & Sons]] for postcards reproduced from original painting.

;Postcard Folder
:A set of picture postcards, printed on light-weight paper, which fold out accordion-style from an outer envelope (folder). These typically contain more than 5 cards.

;Postcardese
:The style of writing used on postcards; short sentences, jumping from one subject to another.

;[[QSL card|QSL Card]]
:Postcards that confirms a successful reception of a radio signal on amateur radio.

;[[Real photo postcard|Real Photographic]]
:"Real photo postcards", as collectors have dubbed them, are often abbreviated as "RP" or "RPPC". Most of these were produced in small batches from an original negative by an individual or a local store.<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Palmer|first=Richard|title=Postcard Craze Engulfs the Great Lakes|journal=Inland Seas|volume=50|issue=1|pages=39–45}}</ref> They are not printed.

;Reward Card
:Cards that were given away to school children for good work.

;Special Property Card
:Postcards that are made of a material other than cardboard or contains something made not of cardboard.

;Standard Size
:Introduced in Britain in November 1899, measuring {{convert|140|×|89|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}.

[[Image:benwickpost.jpg|right|thumb|A Topographical postcard of [[Benwick|Benwick, UK]], featuring a vignette, therefore likely an undivided back (pre-1907)]]
;Topographical
:Postcards showing street scenes and general views. [[Judges Postcards]] produced many British topographical views.

;Undivided Back
:Postcards with a plain back where all of this space was used for the address. This is usually in reference to ''early'' cards, although undivided were still in common use up until 1907. In 1907,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Undivided Backs (Pre-1907) - Postcards - Dating - Landscape Change Program |url=https://glcp.uvm.edu/landscape_new/dating/postcards/undivided_backs.php |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=glcp.uvm.edu}}</ref> the [[Universal Postal Union|Universal Postal Congress]] published a series of decrees that permitted postcards to bear messages on the left half of the card's back. This allowed printers to eschew the vignette in favor of extending the picture to the edges, ensuing the divided-back "Golden Age of Postcards."<ref>{{Cite web |last=KapsalisE |date=2013-09-19 |title=Postcard History |url=https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=Smithsonian Institution Archives}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Golden Age of Postcards (1907–1915) – Greetings from Delaware |url=https://exhibitions.lib.udel.edu/greetings-from-delaware/home/golden-age-of-postcards-1907-1915/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |language=en-US}}</ref>

;Vignette
:Usually found on "undivided back" cards, consisting of a design that does not occupy the whole of the picture side. Vignettes may be anything from a small sketch in one corner of the card, to a design cover three quarters of the card. The purpose is to leave some space for the message to be written, as the entire reverse of the card could only be used for the address.

;Write-Away
:A card with the opening line of a sentence, which the sender would then complete. Often found on early comic cards.