riverrun bookstore has gradually drifted into a side business of postcards. Chris Stephens buys most of riverrun's book inventory out of homes and often there are fascinating postcards there too. People all over the world collect postcards. There is a rich body of lore associated with the production and distribution, the artists and photographers, the history and collectible details of postcard collections.
Postcard collectors share their information and enthusiasms for the subject over the internet, through the mail and in clubs.
The Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City has members from all over the world. Their in-person meetings are held in a wonderful art-deco style hotel, The New Yorker, on 34th Street in NYC. The club also sponsors postcard fairs twice a year.
The website for the club (link below) is an exceptionally fine resource for people interested in postcards. It is a forum for sharing information and news of the postcard community. It includes a useful glossary of terms, reviews, a calendar of events and online supplements from their printed catalogues.
My favorite part of the website is the collection of guides. There are ten. Each is information-packed with charts and narrative and illustrations. These guides are clearly and interestingly written by Alan Petrulis. Most of the postcards featured in the guides, and in the website's history of the postcard, are from Petrulis' personal collection.
Visit the website. And if you're interested in postcards - or you might very well become so - come to one of the club meetings. See you there.
Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City
http://www.metropostcard.com/
postcard collector blog
http://postcardcollector.org/forum/index.php?p=/discussions/p4
UK postcard website
http://www.postcard.co.uk/
