John P. Charlton

John P. Charlton was an American printer[1] and stationer[2] from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is often credited as the inventor of the private postal card, which he copyrighted in 1861 together with Hymen Lipman.

[3] The first postal cards have been used by William Henry Jackson, an artist and photographer, who painted Civil War battlefields in the beginning of the 1860s and used them to write to his family.

[6] Charlton's invention was a plain card (except the decorative border), the face of which was completely reserved for the message.

[7] The well-known postcard format of a divided back (for text and address) with an image on the whole front was not used in the US until 1907,[8] although they were used earlier in other countries.

[1][3] The United States had previously allowed non-government issued post cards to be circulated as long as proper postage was affixed to it and they confined to the government's regulations.