First Postcards in Croatia

Abstract

The paper deals with the appearance and development of the first hand-illustrated and printed postcards in Croatia, from an illustrated postal card to a postcard. The development of the postcard was indirectly defined by the legislation of Austria-Hungary, and went from the economic and political form of postal communication of the end of the 19th century into a visual and tourist symbol of the entire 20th century. The starting point for the research was in private and public postcard collections. The oldest Croatian postcards depicting Samobor (1871), Split (1880) and Opatija (1888) preceded the series of postcards of Rijeka and its surroundings, as well as lithographic postcards. The new visual medium in the Croatian context, with its technique, style and form, stands alongside the European trends of the time.

Keywords

• earliest postcards
• Correspondenz-Karte (postal card)
• Spalato
• Abbazia
• Croatia
• postal history