Taxing Persian Postcards (Dec 1903 – Jun 1908 )

Sam Shamsabadi

In Persia in 1902, the government started preparing picture postcards by order of Mr. Jérôme Priem. In the early twentieth century, many of the postcards sold to Westerners visiting Asia & Africa were printed and distributed by European firms. Concerned that their customs, particularly the veiling of women, were not being respected in the selection of images for postcards, Islamic religious authorities in the land of Persia sought to Ban all model pictures postcards but did establish religious censorship of them.