Why did the postman come to the door seven times a day 100 years ago?

“Like we now send apps with a short message and funny photos or memes , people then sent each other postcards”, says artist and publicist Tammo Schuringa (Amsterdam, 1962). “Sometimes even in a series of six or seven a day, where the pictures can be read like a comic strip. Then it was easy, because unlike now, the postman sometimes came to the door seven times a day. And not only in the big city, even in the smaller villages there were several daily collections. If desired, the recipient could even reply immediately by return mail.”

In his book Delightful babies published this week, the author shows the 100 most beautiful baby cards from his private collection. He also elaborates on this extremely popular means of communication at the time. “I had never heard of the term ‘golden age of the postcard’. But at its peak, billions of cards were sent worldwide every year,” he says. “There was a real cartomania.”

Wounded soldier

The importance of picture postcards already at the end of the 19th century is illustrated by an amusing anecdote the author found in an account of the Franco-Prussian war, which raged in 1870 and 1871: of battle granted exemption from postage. As a result, there were already 10 million in just six months Feldpost-Correspondenzkarten found their way home. The story goes that a wounded soldier on the battlefield was more likely to hail a stagecoach to message his family than an ambulance.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, the postcard grew, in German Postcard postcard , literally translated ‘view map’, into the ultimate means of communication. “Although some people were initially suspicious and shocked,” says Tammo Schuringa. “They thought it immoral that their servants should be able to read what was written to them. Nevertheless, they too eventually tacked. Why? Because the postcard was cheap, a stamp for it was twice as cheap as for a letter.”

Special card with a fish on it

His fascination with the old-fashioned cards, especially those with babies on them, started ten years ago when he bought a strange, rather surreal-looking card with a fish on it, holding a cradle with a baby in its mouth on Amsterdam’s Waterlooplein . “Not much later I discovered more of these wonderful cards at the Parisian flea markets. They turned out to be ‘April fish’, which were sent to loved ones in France on April 1, often anonymously. A kind of valentines avant la letter .”

Via the collectors website Delcampe.net, the artist bought thousands of cheerful, crazy and special postcards. “I was addicted to the rattling of the mailbox,” he says with a laugh. “Especially the genre of the baby cards turned out to be my favourite. They tie in with all sorts of folktales about where babies come from. In an often humorous way, the cards disguise the shame that many parents no doubt felt more than a hundred years ago when they were forced to tell their children where their new brother or sister came from.”

Playful and cheerful

The infants on the cards often do very grown-up things. For example, they sail in zeppelins, sit in boats or even hold a rifle during the First World War. “My theory is that these jolly babies encourage us adults to be playful and happy in life. ‘Seize the day’ seems to be their motto.”