“Having wonderful time—wish you were here!”

It’s short. It’s sweet. It’s the perfect picture postcard message!

Postcards have been sending us their brief mess-ages since the mid-1800s. The very first is credited to English writer Theodore Cook: in 1840, he sent one to himself. “Souvenir” post-cards, showing spots where you’d like to be if only you had the time and money, made an 1871 debut in Vienna. Sales really took off in 1893, with the introduction of picture postcards at the Chicago World’s Fair. Soon, sending the folks back home a postcard became a rite of travel. Why waste vacation time writing letters? An eye-pleasing illustration on one side of a card, with a few cheery words penned on the other, got the point across. If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” picture postcards were the living proof. And if one picture was good, a whole batch was even better. Enter the “travel postcard folios.”

Postcard folios (“accordion folders”) were 6” by 4-1/2” booklets. The cardboard cover opened to reveal views of the featured attraction. Visiting Silver Springs, Florida? Well, here are shots of a bevy of “mermaids” frolicking underwater. . . guides to feeding monkeys, and milking rattlesnakes. . . and a merry crowd aboard a glass-bottom boat. The back cover interior gave a breathless preview of what awaited travelers at “Nature’s Underwater Playground”: “shell mountains, with their faces dipped in snow”. . .“rainbow colors, iridescence at its best”. . .a “jungle cruise one will never forget.”

With fancier folders, the interior pix were all in color, on both sides of sturdy, postcard-size stock. The pages were horizontally joined to each other, which meant when the booklet was opened they tumbled out, accordion-style. Folder exteriors were generally equipped with a tuck-in flap to keep things contained. The flap interior included a few blank lines for that all-important message to the gang back home.

When the flap was opened, the complete exterior picture was repeated beneath it, so not a bit of scenic wonder was missing. The cover reverse featured a different illustration, usually paired with address lines and a stamp box. Originally retailing for about a quarter, with mid-century postage averaging 3 cents, travel card folios were a luxury every pocketbook could afford.

Donald-Brian Johnson is the co-author of numerous Schiffer books on design and collectibles, including “Postwar Pop,” a collection of his columns. Please address inquiries to: donaldbrian@msn.com