By Marc Fischer / Public Collectors
Chicago, IL: Public Collectors, 2025
Pages: 24
Dimensions: 7 in X 4.25 in
Cover: Paper
Binding: staple binding
Process: Risograph and hand coloring with markers and colored pencil
Color: 2-color RISO and full color covers on Speckletone cardstock 
Edition size: approximately 200
ISBN: none

A new mini Public Collectors booklet about the art of QSL cards: specifically black and white cards with rather rough drawings of people or their surrogates. From the back cover:

People that talked to each other over CB radio (a particularly popular form of communication in the 1970s) made printed calling cards that they exchanged with others. They are called QSL cards. In CB radio speak, “QSL” means “I confirm receipt of your transmission.” These postcard-size printed cards were traded through the mail, or through collector clubs and at CB user social gatherings. What people spoke about may be lost to time, but these cards remain.

This small booklet follows Public Collectors publication #88 (October 2024), which shared a different selection of QSL cards with similar qualities of drawing and design. This back cover text largely borrows from the context I shared in the first booklet. I have a modest collection of QSL cards and notice something new every time I pull out my two boxes and sift through them. I particularly enjoy cards that feature roughly hand-drawn art and lettering, with jagged line-work and forms. I appreciate the urgency of these cards, and the feeling that community participation was more important than fine craft or hiring an illustrator to make some kind of self portrait, couple, or family portrait. People worked with what they had in order to participate in their community. 

Hand-colored black and white printed cards are common, and I have many examples of QSL cards that were filled in with markers, colored pencils or both. I imagine families sitting around a table doing this together. In the spirit of the form, I’ve hand-colored the cover of each of these booklets. I’ve also selected cards that have just one or two colors of ink, and that I felt would reproduce best using Risograph printing. 

— Marc Fischer / Public Collectors