Around the World Postcards
The “WhatsApp group chat” of the 19th century.
The late 19th to the early 20th century was the Golden Age for postcards. They were the easiest way for friends and family members to stay in touch with quick, inexpensive messages.
During this time, a trend known as “Around the World” (AtW) postcards began, where groups of people would relay postcards through friends all over the world, with each person forwarding the card to a new address until it eventually returned to the original sender. These postcards are covered in stamps, cancels, and crossed-out addresses and are fascinating to philatelists and deltiologists alike.
Figure 1: An early example of an AtW postcard from 1897.
Figure 2: Transcription of the back of the 1897 card
Returned 22nd Nov. 1897
Please alter address, affix a 1d. stamp & forward to :-
Walter Tringham Esq. Penylan Estate Dolos Bage, Ceylon
[one sender has a request for Mr. Tringham:] If you could spare me some Ceylon or other kind of stamps, I should be much obliged. [Arrow] You will find my address on the other side
F.H. Christmas c/o Clark Battano & Co., 4 Brabant Court, London E.C.
Posted at Eastcheap post-office London E.C. at 5.30pm. Friday Sept. 16th –1897–
Please do not put new stamps over old one
[left margin] Nelson 30.9.97
Sending AtW postcards was technically prohibited in Canada, as our postal regulations prevented the double use of postcards: “A post card may not be used a second time, even though prepaid by an additional stamp,” (Canada Official Postal Guide 1913, p.9). This rule was circumvented by remailing postcards as if they were letters, at the UPU letter rate of 5¢, rather than the UPU postcard rate of 2¢.
Figure 3: AtW Postcard from 1899.
Note the blue 5¢ Canadian Maple Leaf stamp in Figure 3. This postcard was mailed at the UPU letter rate rather than the 2¢ postcard rate to circumvent the Canadian rule against re-mailing postcards. Although the postcard was sent to a British colony and could have been eligible for the 2¢ Imperial Penny Post (IPP) letter rate, New Zealand had not yet signed on to the new IPP rate, so a 5¢ stamp was used instead.
Postmasters around the world participated in the trend too. UPU-rate postal cards exist with just an address list of postmasters in 6 or more cities that have successfully traversed the world, with each postmaster forwarding it to the next on the list until it returned to the originator.
Figure 4: One of the latest examples of an ATW postcard from 1921. Printed in Esperanto, it has instructions to send it to fellow Esperanto speakers in different countries before returning it to the original sender’s address.
Back of 1921 AtW card with Esperanto instructions.
In 1926, the Canadian Official Postal Guide stated: “Post cards with the address side divided in spaces to receive successive addresses are prohibited”. This regulation made it impossible to remail postcards, effectively banning the Around the World trend.
— David McLaughlin, FRPSC
President, Greene Foundation