Postcard Sets
Sometime in the late 1910s postcards were sold to tourists as sets in addition to the single card. Various studios began to develop these new forms of packaging for their products. Many would focus on a particular archaeological site, collections of the Cairo Museum, Egyptian deities, views of a specific modern Egyptian city (e.g. Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said), even artistic renderings of the various tourist hotels. They might come in collections ranging from half a dozen to 20 cards in total, though a full dozen seems to be the preferred marketing choice. Similarly, they run the full gamut of types be they illustrations in full color to reduced sized glossy black and white photos.
Reverse cover for the same set marketed by the Eastern Publishing Company of Cairo.
Many of these commercial publishers and studios would use the back side of their wrappings advertise other sets that they sold. In some instances they might also promote the non-postcard souvenir offerings produced by the company (e.g. books, larger prints, various photography services, etc.).
EgyptPostCardSet_TombsKings_LL.pdf
