Postcards and Pen Friends
Esperanto in Scotland
Course 1 · Chapter 5 · Postcards and Pen Friends
The first thing many learners did with Esperanto was write to someone. A picture postcard cost little, travelled far and fitted a few lines of a language both people were still learning. This chapter follows how a Dundee minister found correspondents in Bulgaria, Finland and elsewhere, and what a few surviving cards reveal.
A Postcard from Harmanli
The recent study opens with a card sent on 26 June 1908 from Harmanli, in Bulgaria, to John Beveridge in Dundee. The front shows a photograph of the town with a group of about twenty townspeople on a bridge. The sender, Fina Nedenka Kirilova, wrote a short note in Esperanto thanking him for stamps he had sent to her brother, St. Kirilov.
The language
The note was in Esperanto, with some errors and traces of Cyrillic habits, which suggests the writer was still learning. French was still the usual international language of the post at the time.
The exchange
Stamps were a common gift. The postcard thanks Beveridge for them and so shows a friendship built on a shared hobby as much as on the language.
The place
In 1907 the Harmanli group had thirteen members, eleven men and two women. A small-town group, not a capital city, is typical of the places in this archive.
How Correspondents Were Found
| Method | How it worked |
|---|---|
| Yearbooks (Jarlibro) | Printed lists of Esperantists by town. Beveridge owned the 1907 and 1910 editions. |
| Zamenhof's directory of learners | An address list kept between 1889 and 1908; the study says it began from coupons in the first textbook. |
| Magazine notices | Readers advertised their interest in The British Esperantist and in Russian-language Esperanto journals such as Ruslanda Esperantisto. |
| Introductions from pen friends | A Finnish correspondent, Hugo Salokannel, gave Beveridge three further Finnish addresses. |
In 1904 a list of Bulgarian Esperantists named 114 places, 61 of them with only one or two speakers. Plovdiv had 51 members and Silistra 88. A yearbook was therefore a map of small groups scattered across a country, which is what made postcards possible between such small places.
What They Wrote About
- Stamps and photographs. People sent portraits, outfits and views of their towns.
- Buildings. Cards showed local landmarks, such as Dundee's Wishart Arch and an avenue in Göteborg.
- Religion and translation. Beveridge's Esperanto version of the Sermon on the Mount, Prediko sur la Monto, was among the subjects.
- Poetry and periodicals. A translated poem in Finna Esperantisto is one example.
- Causes. Hugo Salokannel wrote about pacifism and vegetarianism. The study describes him as a Finnish station officer from Kymi.
Esperantists often called one another samideano, "fellow thinker", a word that shows how the language was a shared outlook as well as a means of communication.
How Big Was It?
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Over 50 | Postcards that Beveridge received between 1908 and 1910, in the collection |
| At least 3 | Mails from Salokannel in 1908–1910; the total is unclear |
| About 1 billion | Postcards dispatched in Britain in 1906, which sets the Esperanto cards in the larger postcard craze |
A Short Reading in Esperanto
En 1908 oni sendis poŝtkarton de Harmanli en Bulgario al John Beveridge en Dundee. La sendinto skribis en Esperanto kaj dankis pro poŝtmarkoj. Sur la karto estis foto de la urbeto.
poŝtkarto (postcard) · sendi (to send) · sendinto (sender) · danki (to thank) · pro (for, because of) · poŝtmarko (stamp) · urbeto (small town).
The meaning: In 1908 a postcard was sent from Harmanli in Bulgaria to John Beveridge in Dundee. The sender wrote in Esperanto and thanked him for stamps. On the card was a photo of the little town.
Exercises
Choose one of the four ways of finding correspondents and explain what its limits are as a source for counting Esperantists.
A historian says "Scottish Esperantists had friendships across Europe." Using this chapter, list two things the postcards support and two things they cannot show.
Write a postcard of three sentences in Esperanto from a town you know, thanking someone for a gift (use danki, pro and foto).
Quick Reference
- Harmanli card: 26 June 1908, Bulgaria to Dundee; thanks for stamps
- Finding correspondents: yearbooks, Zamenhof's directory, magazine notices, introductions
- Topics: stamps, photographs, buildings, religion, poetry, pacifism, vegetarianism
- Collection: over 50 postcards received 1908–1910; replies mostly lost
- Word: samideano, fellow thinker