Post Marks: The Way We Were – Early New Zealand Postcards, 1897–1922 reveals the pioneer roots of New Zealand culture, the importance society placed on industry and infrastructure and the rapidly changing shape of our landscapes. Collectively, the postcards present an informal, personal and often humorous illustration of the way we were – tokens of a visit, well wishes from family or missives of romance. Post Marks includes reproductions of more than 500 New Zealand postcards, many of them so rare they may be the only surviving examples of this early and formative period
of the nation’s history.
Drawn to the tactile and ubiquitous nature of the postcard which had developed parallel with photography in the 1860s, Haks ferociously gathered and refined a large collection of early New Zealand
cards that in the book has been complimented by the involvement of other collectors, providing a stimulating introduction to the depth and richness of this historical period. Images have been broadly
arranged in four sections: The Way We Were, The Great Outdoors, The Fat of The Land and The Building of A Nation.
Post Marks will have wide appeal because it offers a rare sampling of images that record New Zealand’s economic and social history from a period now beyond the living memory of most New Zealanders.
