Fold-In-Half Postcard - Mt. Vesuvius Railway

I've seen plenty of fold-out accordion type postcards, but this is the first fold-in-half card that I've come across. It's a panorama of Mt. Vesuvius and Naples, Italy; a promotional card, I think, by Thomas Cook & Son. It's an interesting item to me for the information on the funicular railroad that ran all the way to the crater. I wasn't aware this ever existed -- it was put out of commission by the eruption of 1944.

How common are these folded postcards? Can anyone post other examples? It seems like they would have to be sealed, with the address side out, in order to be mailed.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

Here's some further info on the Vesuvius funicular railway:
http://www.italiannotebook.com/loca...ar-vesuvius/

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In a striking affront to probability, up from The Great Pile rises a similar/later product from the Folkard Company of Canada Ltd, Drummond Building, Montreal, Canada, with an image copyrighted 1929.

This one is edged with WAG (Water-Activated Gum) for ease-of-sealing before posting, and perforated on three sides for ease-of-opening after arrival.

I think our common purpose would be better served by calling these admittedly post-card-like products Folding Letter Sheets, to wit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_sheet ... yes, the word "folding" is redundant

Most of the post-card-like-folding-letter-sheets I've seen bore identifying information that suggests that they were placed in hotel/motel rooms for guests' correspondence.

I suspect that these never caught-on because they did not age well, sitting in hotel/motel desk drawers, waiting months to be used ... it would not have taken too many guests, traipsing to the front desk for a larger envelope or some tape, to bring the re-order rate down to zero.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who would only like to live long enough to ever see more of his post-card-like-folding-letter-sheets emerge from The Great Pile)

Well done, Ikey -- you reminded me that I have one of these curiosities, too! Mine was tucked away in the Not-So-Great Box, so it wasn't too hard to dig out. Also a Folkard (fold-card, get it?), this one is also from 1929.

I think you're right that these Folkards are appropriately called letter sheets. That may be another reason they didn't fare so well -- not everyone wants to write a whole letter on a postcard.

The Vesuvius postcard is a different animal, though. It has no gum, so it would have to be sealed another way, if at all. And there's no place to write a message apart from the usual spot beside the address. I'm going to guess that it qualified for the postcard rate, while the letter-cards had to pay the full letter rate. Can anyone add any more info?