About Exaggeration
By Joyce M. Tice
The tall tale is older than Beowulf or Ulysses. Bragging
about the better, the bigger, the most has always been entertaining.
Exaggeration or Tall-Tale postcards, the heyday of which was in the
early twentieth century but which
continues to this day, are an extension of that tradition. An
exaggeration postcard is any presentation where an object or idea is
expanded out of standard scale with usually humorous results.
Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr. of
Waupun, Wisconsin was not the only and not the first producer of
this genre of cards. In the parlance of the early twentieth century
they were called novelty freak cards. The collection
presented in this book include only the Johnson productions.
I first encountered Johnson’s humor
in 1997 as part of a local collection which included two examples
with local names overprinted. I soon discovered that there were many
more to be found, each more entertaining and creative than another.
I hope this collection can be
available a century from now. The postcards are already a century
old, and the chances that in another century a few copies of this
then aged book may survive in attics or archives will extend their
life. I consider my own
collection filled when I have one good example of each scene.
I would not attempt to acquire one from each of the many
towns where they were imprinted. I do include some variants where
the overprinted label or the back
is non-standard.
The combined collection of those who
have participated in this revision is still not quite
complete—but getting close.
We have at least been able
since the publication of the first
edition in 2013, determined what the entire catalog is
using copyright registrations. When I show
multiple images of the same scene, it is to demonstrate the
variability that we encounter as we search. I will include images in
the book of examples I know to exist but do not have in my own
collection. I will also include an occasional card from another
photographer where appropriate to illustrate a point.
The cards are very appealing and
entertaining and once the collecting bug gets hold of a person,
there is no stopping it until all are found. We are still working
toward that goal and enjoying the hunt.