The lost art of postcard writing – The Yorkshire Post says

In an age when younger writers appear to have regressed to the level of hieroglyphics for their daily correspondence – a smiley face symbol substituting for eloquence – one might be tempted to yearn for a previous age.

Postcards were the shorthand tool of the letter writer – a first draft of events to be embroidered later in vellum.

We are accustomed to the ‘Wish You Were Here’ variety from Filey but as an auction house in Sheffield has reminded us, they were once the medium of choice for quick communication, contained concisely in a well-chosen phrase or two.

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The pictures on the front of the 10,000 cards that go under the hammer next week tell one story – that of the passing parade of life in one of Yorkshire’s great cities.

Sheffield United's 1915 FA Cup winning team, depicted on a postcardSheffield United's 1915 FA Cup winning team, depicted on a postcard
Sheffield United's 1915 FA Cup winning team, depicted on a postcard

The words scribbled in haste on the back tell another entirely.

It does no good to wallow in the past yet it is hard not to reflect on an art that, for all our modern technology, we have seem to have lost.