The Postcard Price Guide, 4th Ed., A Comprehensive Reference

Rating:
Summary: I'm a beginning postcard collector.
Review: This book gives you a good feel for the value of postcards. Beginners will definitely get their money's worth from this guide before buying from a dealer or an online auction.

Keep in mind that Mashburn is a dealer as well as a collector and author. He devotes way too much space to the categories he collects and sells...origional art. I estimate that he devotes a measley 25% of the book to photographic postcards.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive
Review: This guide provides prices for over 10,000 cards and will be useful for collectors, dealers, and novices. The book highlights the most collected categories, and the artist-signed chapter covers over 250 pages. The 900 postcard images, though reduced and in black and white, are useful; my favorites included the Krampus cards, Alligator border card, and the Halloween cards are a real treat. Mashburn provides short biographies of some of the artists and publishers (and even an introduction to Krampus). Although Mashburn does present some useful guidelines on topical, views, and roadside America I thought those chapters were too short in light of the vast number of cards available. Mashburn also includes references for more specific topics also.