Poisson d'avril postcards - the Belle Époque phenomenon

1900

At the turn of the 20th century the poisson d'avril postcard became a Belle Époque phenomenon: cards illustrated with fish, flowers and young women, carrying flirtatious rhymes such as 'Ce poisson vous dira combien je vous aime'. At their height they were more widely sent in France than Christmas cards. The Château de Dieppe Museum holds a collection of 1,716 such cards. The tradition died out after the First World War.