So geek runs strong in my family. My father and I share postcards as a hobby. He is a member the local club Capital of Texas Postcard Club . Anyway, at some point they put out a booklet titled "Beginners Guide to The Hobby of Postcard Collecting". So, with out their permission (living on the edge here) I have decided to share parts, maybe all, of the booklet with you guys.

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The scholarly name for the study and collecting of postcards is "Deltiology", from the Greek word, delti, a diminutive form of deltos, meaning "writing tablet or letter," therefore a "small letter."

A Glossary of Postcard Terms and Types

Add-Ons: A postcard that has some form of cloth, metal or other embellishment attached to it. Also see: Novelty and Mechanical.

Art Deco: A popular artistic style from the 1920's to WWII, generally recognizable by bold geometric shapes, colors and designs referring to rapid industrialization.

Art Nouveau: A popular artistic style 1890-1910, characterized by natural forms, soft colors, flowing lines and flowery symblols.

Artist Signed: Postcards with artwork that has the artist's facsimile signature in the printed image. These are generally illustrations that are unique to postacards, but also include signed works of fine art that have been reproduced on postcards.

Bookmarks: Small, narrow postcards meant to be used for bookmarks.

Chrome: a modern card printed from a color photograph, 1960's to present.

Continentals: The term continental refers to the size of a card rather than its place of origin. U.S. postcards, produced between 1902 and 1970 were generally 3.5 x 5.5 inches in size, but a number of older foreign cards were produced in sizes that approximated 4 x 6 inches, and when U.S. photocrhromes began to be produced in the 1960's and 1970's they were called continentals.

Embossed: Embossing and debossing are the processes of creating either raised or recessed relief images or designs in postcards or other materials. An embossed pattern is raised against the background, wile a debossed pattern is sunken into the surface.

Embroidered: Embroidered cards have actual stitchery thread motifs sewn to the paper. See Silks

Ephemera: items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to only have short-term usefulness or popularity.

Exaggerations: For humorous effect, an exaggeration card has one part of the image scaled much larger than the rest of the image.

Folders: A folder is a group of view cards printed on both sides on a large strip and folded to fit into an attached cover.

Handmade Card: some postcards have been created by hand using cardboard, paper, and other materials. They often have appliques, original drawings, watercolors or other artwork.

Hand-Tinted: Black-and-white images tinted by hand coloring.

Hold-To-Light: Hold-to lights- or "HTL's" are multilayered postcards with cut-out areas in one or more layers that appear i;;uminated when held to the light. Another type, called a transparency, has an interior layer printed with an image that can be seen when backed by a strong light.

Installments: Installments are a set of postcards, usually 3 to 5 cards, that when placed together form a single larger picture. Installments were often mailed to the recipient one at a time on successive days.

Large Letter (or Big Letter): Large letter cards have the name of the city, state, or place spelled out in oversized letters; inside each letter is often a smaller picture.

Maximum Card: A maximum card is a postcard with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in concordance. In most cases, the cancellation is also related to the image on the front of the card and the stamp. Generally of interest to stamp collectors, these cards carry "first-day-of-issue" stamps.

Mechanicals: Mechanical postcards vary widely but their most common characteristic is parts that move - rotating wheels behind cutouts, tabs that pull out, altering the image-moving eyes, objects, figures, opening or closing windows, etc.

Modern Postcards: There is not common agreement among collectors about the definition of "Modern Postcards." Some collectors include cards printed after the "White Border Era" as modern cards, but more often the term is meant to refer to only photochrome cards.

Novelty Postcards: Novelty postcards might include cards made of odd material such as wood, bark, leather, or metal. This group also encompasses cards with "add-ons" or applique of cloth, metal pieces, beads, real hair, glass eyes, dried floweres, tiny photos, pennants, ribons and other objects. Novelties also include cards with small envelopes, handmade postcards, and "Squeakers"- cards with small pressure activated noisemakers.

Postcard, Post Card or Postal Card?: Postcard is the generally accepted term today for a card that may be mailed without an envelope. Post Card is considered archaic, and Postal Card generally refers to a card with preprinted government postage.

Postcard Exchange: A system of mail exchange or postcards during the Golden Age of postcards.

Postcrossing: A Modern form of postcard exchange

Rack Cards: Rack cards are generally 4" x 6" cards available in some cities displayed on racks of free commercial advertising cards. The topics might be movies, shops, restaurants, fashion, theater, music, alcohol, etc. In recent years these cards have gained significant popularity among collectors.

Real Photo (RPPC or RP): Postcards produced by a photographic process, rather than a mechanical printing process. These are generally black and white photos prior to 1960, but also include hand-tinted photos. Some RPPCs are one-of-a-kind photographs produced by amateurs and others were commercially produced.

Series: A postcard series is a group of cards by a a single publisher on a particular subject and having a similar design. These often have a series name and number on the back, but not always. Many collectors attempt to collect all the cards in a series.

Silks: Cards with a woven silk insert, or hand-embroidery added to them. Of particular note are the embroidered cards produced in France and Belgium during WWI for sale to soldiers.

Stereo View Postcards: Postcards with a stereoscopic pair of separate images that give the illusion of three dimensions when viewed through a stereoscope.

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If you would like to post your examples of any of the above, please do!