Vintage postcards of waterfalls

Today's vintage postcard entry covers falls and waterfalls. It wasn't until I'd selected a handful to share that I realised they were all of Wales ... I guess no real surprise although I'm sure I also have some of Scotland and the Lake District somewhere (my postcard collection is in serious need of some house-keeping). The Faulkner card is probably my favourite because of the beautiful use of colour, but the first sepia one also has an appeal.

The Falls, Ogwen Bank and Carnedd Dafydd, Bethesda, Wales, published by in the Art Sepia series by Raphael Tuck

Swallow Falls, Bettws-y-Coed, Wales, published by Grosvenor

Dyserth Waterfall, near Rhyll, published by Baur, c.1958

Swallow Falls, Bettws-y-Coed, Wales, published by C.W.Faulkner, number 366A

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Vintage Postcards for Sepia Saturday

For my Sepia Saturday post this week, I can't claim to be intimately familiar with any of these places but felt these sepia vintage postcards of various English towns were worth sharing. What's interesting is that the degree of "sepia-ness" (pretty sure that's not a word) varies between cards. The first and last postcard are published by Frith, and "very sepia" whereas the two published by Photochrom are still sepia but very much less so, and the one published by Judges is somewhere between the others.

Of the postcards below, I suspect the ones of Penshurst and Lower Slaughter are the least changed today, whereas I suspect the ones of Windsor and Ross-on-Wye are almost certainly blighted by traffic.

Market House, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, published by Frith

Lower Slaughter, the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, published by Photochrom

Penshurst, Kent, published by Judges

The Embankment from the Town Bridge, Bedford, published by Photochrom

High Street and Parish Church, Windsor, Berkshire, published by Frith

Hundreds more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage Carte de Visite (CDV)

A slight departure from my normal vintage postcards blog entry today to cover another subject of interest to me, Carte de Visites (CDV). Unlike a vintage postcard which, if written, can reveal lots of information about it's sender and/or recipient, the CDV typically has no information other than the photographer, and very occasionally some hand-written information.

I like to think of the first two CDV's here as a couple as I bought them together, they are by the same photographer, and of a very similar style, but maybe that's just coincidence. Something I particularly like about all four CDV's below is the intricate designs on the back of the cards, particularly on the last two.

Bearded gentleman, photographed by J.Grey, 60 Union Street, Stonehouse, Devon

Lady, photographed by J.Grey, 60 Union Street, Stonehouse, Devon

Young man, photographed by Robert Thrupp, 66 New Street, Birmingham

Young man, photographed by W.Baker, Highgate Studios, 110 Moseley Road, Birmingham

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Vintage postcards of Town Halls

Today's vintage postcard blog theme is Town Halls. Not typically something that would fire my imagination, but these postcards bring them to life. A mixture of artist drawn and printed postcards, with my favourite probably being the one of Cheltenham Town Hall.

Cheltenham Town Hall, published by Photochrom, c.1938

Leeds Town Hall

Ipswich Post Office and Town Hall

Portsmouth Town Hall from Victoria Park, published by Raphael Tuck, c.1905

Portsmouth Town Hall, published by Stengel

Thanks for everyone's comments on my previous blog entries - I hope you like today's as well. As always, vintage postcards like these can be found on my vintage postcards web site

Vintage postcards of Lighthouses

Today's vintage postcard blog theme is lighthouses. These have always held a curious fascination for me and have a slight air of mysticism about them, probably fuelled by their use in TV and film thrillers, mysteries and other shows. I particularly remember an episode of The Avengers, of the Tara King era, featuring a lighthouse that was used to incapacitate people. Anyway, enough reminiscing about one of may favourite cult TV series, and on to the postcards.

Teignmouth, Devon, New Lighthouse, c.1905, with Teignmouth squared circle postmark, published by Frith

Corbiere Lighthouse, Jersey, published by E.T.W.Dennis

New Brighton Lighthouse, Cheshire, c.1906, published by Frith

Girdleness Lighthouse, Aberdeen, by artist Brian Gerald, published by Valentine

Beachy Head and Lighthouse, Sussex

As always, postcards like these and hundreds of others can be found on my vintage postcards web site

Devon, by artists Ewart Baker, Andrew Beer and Phil Weston

Today's vintage postcard blog update covers the english county of Devon, and in particular postcards by the artists Ewart Baker, Andrew Beer and Phil Weston, dating back to the 1920's. I've grouped these postcards together as they all have a similar artistic style (unfortunately my knowledge of art is not sufficient to suggest what it might be called, and there's no information on the back of the postcards). It's hard to make a call but I think the Ewart Baker ones are probably my favourites.

Bathing Beach and Redcliffe Hotel, Paignton, by the artist Ewart Baker

Rough Sea at Teignmouth, by the artist Ewart Baker, c.1925

Vane Hill, Torquay, by the artist Phil Weston, c.1923

A Dartmoor Road, by the artist Andrew Beer

Chagford, Dartmoor, by the artist Andrew Beer

Cockington Forge, by the artist Andrew Beer

As always, these and similar vintage postcards can be found on my vintage postcards web site