Sepia Saturday 201 - vintage postcards of houses

Sometimes Sepia Saturday seems to be feast or famine for me. Glad to report that this is a feast week though, and if anything I have too many pictures to choose from for this week's house theme. So to limit them I thought I'd only include a few classics and a couple of variations on the house theme.

Vintage postcard of the Headmaster's House, Bradfield College

Vintage postcard of Charles Dickens' House

Vintage postcard of Register House, Edinburgh

Vintage postcard of St. Giles' House, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset

Vintage postcard of the Old Toll-Bar House, Alfreton

Vintage postcard of the Great Palm House, Kew Gardens

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site.

Sepia Saturday 199 - vintage postcards of theatres

Having blogged a few times with vintage postcards of actresses and actors, I though that I'd diversify a bit for this week's Sepia Saturday and share some vintage postcards of theatres themselves.

First up with have the Greek Theatre at Bradfield College, Berkshire. More of an amphitheatre than a theatre though I think.

Vintage postcard of the Greek Theatre, Bradfield College

 Next up is the Cliff Theatre in Cliftonville, Kent. I'm not sure which building is actually the theatre, and I can't see any cliffs either. I'm guessing it's within the building named "The Gay Parade".

Vintage postcard of the Cliff Theatre and Ethelbert Terrace, Cliftonville, Kent

Another open air theatre, this time in Devon. A lovely setting but I suspect you  might need to bring your own chair or blanket to this one.

Vintage postcard of the Open Air Theatre. Dartington Hall, Devon

 The next two vintage postcards are both incarnations of the same theatre, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, in Stratford-on-Avon. The first postcard shows the original theatre which was opened in 1879 but destroyed by fire in 1926.

Vintage postcard of the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

The second postcard is of the theatre which was rebuilt there in 1932 and was apparently one of the first buildings to be designed by a woman architect.

Vintage postcard of the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

Sepia Saturday 197 - out of focus

My out of focus or blurred submission for this week's Sepia Saturday is a vintage postcard of an old lady. The scanning process seems to have enhanced the exposure somewhat, but even so, it's still not looking quite how I imagine the photographer intended.

Vintage postcard of an old lady

As usual 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my web site

Sepia Saturday 195 - Peace

Again, it's a bit scary how quickly the weeks fly by, but good that it's the weekend. This week's Sepia Saturday had me rummaging through a few old magazines, but eventually I decided, yet again, on old postcards, and the theme of peace.

Vintage postcard, "Let's Have Peace at Any Price"

As usual 100's of vintage postcards on my web site.

Sepia Saturday 194 - Flags of the League of Nations

I don't have any pictures of items related to sewing, but I do have flags to contribute to this week's Sepia Saturday. These are cigarette cards given away with John Player cigarettes as part of the Flags of the League of Nations series. The series of 50 cards was published in 1928.

Cigarette cards from the Flags of the League of Nations series, c.1928

Cigarette cards from the Flags of the League of Nations series, c.1928

Sepia Saturday 193 - alone in a boat

This week's Sepia Saturday post of a person alone in a boat had me rummaging through my vintage postcards to find something on a similar theme. I ended up being surprised that I actually had a few which fitted the bill.

Vintage postcard of Lake Coomasharen, Glenbeigh, by the artist Ernest Longstaffe

Vintage postcard of Lake Biwa, Japan

Vintage panel postcard of a moonlit lake scene

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 191 - Victorian carte de visite (CDV)

Is it me or does Saturday come around quicker each week? This is of course a good thing as it means it's the weekend, but also means I have to get my brain engaged in other activity, like coming up with a post for Sepia Saturday. As the prompt says though, there's plenty in this week's post to choose from. My immediate thought was hats, but I did that for my blog post last week, so instead I'm going for facial hair and share a few carte de visite (CDV) that I acquired recently.

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Elliott & Fry, London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Mowls, King's Lynn, Norfolk

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Sinclair & Co., London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Chas F Wing, Exeter

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards and vintage magazines on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 187 - churches

I don't have anything biblical to share for this week's Sepia Saturday, but I have stayed on the theological theme with some vintage postcards of churches. Rather than go for the more well known churches in big towns and cities, I have instead opted for a few smaller, almost certainly less familiar ones. Admittedly I did not do a huge amount of research for this posting, but something I did discover on my travels through hyperspace, was that John Betjeman had a love of churches as well as trains. I have several of his books on the latter but none on the former - perhaps it's time to put this right.

Vintage postcard of Clayton Church, Sussex, c.1907

Vintage postcard of Culbone Church, Minehead, Somerset

Vintage postcard of Hollington, the Church in the Wood, Sussex

Vintage postcard of Sompting Church, Sussex, c.1917

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 182 - Summer Solstice

After doing a quick search for milk, dairy and horse in my postcard list, I found this one below which not only fitted in, admittedly rather loosely, with the theme of horses for this week's Sepia Saturday, but also fits in nicely with the fact that today is the Summer Solstice, and people are congregating around Stonehenge, about 30 miles or so from where we live.

Vintage postcard of Trilithons in Horse Shoe, Stonehenge

And of course, having posted one picture of Stonehenge I thought I should share a second as well to keep it company.

Vintage postcard of the Outer Circle, Stonehenge

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

     

Sepia Saturday 180: hospitals

I was a bit torn for this week's Sepia Saturday as to whether to theme on trains or hospitals but eventually decided on hospitals, as I have blogged on trains several times before.

Vintage postcard of Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot

Vintage postcard of St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol

Vintage postcard of the Hospital Gate, Cirencester Abbey

Vintage postcard of Herriot's Hospital, Edinburgh

Vintage postcard of Greenwich Hospital

And finally, whilst on the hospital theme, here's the Outpatients Entrance of an abandoned hospital somewhere in London, near Russell Square from memory, that I found when I was out Urban Wandering through London a few months ago.

Old hospital, near Russell Square, London

As usual 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and for anyone interesting in my Urban Wandering then pop over to my In Search of Space blog.

    

Sepia Saturday 179: Gipsies on the Common, c.1911

I've been out and about today, making the most of our second weekend of summer, with a coastal wander around Lymington so I'll need to keep this week's post short. I'm not so good with the birds, beasts and reptiles which was the main prompt in this week's Sepia Saturday, but I have gone for one of the secondary prompts ... caravans. Interesting that the gypsy way of life was celebrated 100 years ago, whereas it's a rather different story today.

Vintage postcard of Gipsies on the Common, c.1911

    

Sepia Saturday 178

I was away last weekend so managed to miss last week's Sepia Saturday, but am here and a bit early this week. Unfortunately I do not seem to have any vintage postcards which show a face close-up, so I've had to go for the full body. Also, unfortunately I don't know much about this pictures either, other than the publisher or studio name. I'm assuming these are just ordinary people as opposed to famous people, although the second one does look a bit familiar. I never realised until I put the two postcards side-by-side that the pose is almost identical, so maybe a standard of the time.

Vintage postcard of man posing for photograph, published by Boklos Studio, Ashington

Vintage postcard of man posing for photograph, published by Gales

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 176 - vintage postcards of old schools

Hopefully Alan won't give me a detention but am I allowed to indulge myself this week for Sepia Saturday and publish a second post? After submitting my vintage school listings last night, I found some other school related subject matter, this time in my vintage postcards. The first school looks, from the setting, quite idyllic. The second one looks a bit harsh.

Vintage postcard of The Grammar School, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, c.1918

Vintage postcard of College Hall, King's School, Worcester

 As usual, 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and for those of you in search of space, you may like to check out my latest Urban Wanderings over on my In Search of Space blog which has recently seen me drift around the London districts of Shoreditch, King's Cross and Clerkenwell.

Sepia Saturday 174 - vintage postcards of steam ships

I really had no idea where to start to sty on theme for this week's Sepia Saturday, so I am not theming this week. Instead I am sharing some recently acquired, vintage postcards of steam ships, some sepia, some not. I have posted about steam ships before, most recently the R.M.S.Queen Mary, and before that the S.S.Worthing, so whilst not exactly an obsession, it seems I do have more than just a passing interest.

A long cruise on a steam ship does have a certain appeal, and I know several folks who make this their annual holiday, but I have recently been put off the idea by the simply dreadful adverts for cruises that are shown as the sponsors of the Endeavour TV series. However, if we can put that aside for a few moments, our voyage starts with three steam ships from the Union Castle line:

Vintage postcard of the Union Castle Line RMMV, "Capetown Castle"

Vintage postcard of the Union Castle Line, SS "Rhodesia Castle"

Vintage postcard of the Union Castle Line RMMV, "Stirling Castle"

Next up we have the Cunard ship, the RMS Queen Mary, followed by the RMS Victorian. Sepia or black and white works well for a lot of vintage postcard subject matter, but I can't help thinking the colour postcards below win the judges best postcard in category prize here today.

Vintage postcard of the Cunard RMS Queen Mary

Vintage postcard of the RMS Victorian, by the artrist Fred Pansing

    
As usual 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and explorer who prefer to stay on dry land may be interested in my Urban Wanders over on my In Search of Space blog.

Sepia Saturday 173 - "odd"

Seems a shame to be indoors on such a lovely day, particularly given the awful weather to date this year. So, excuse the brief post this week as I'm keen to get out in the garden.

I don't have any pictures of yound men holding up dead birds, but sticking with the theme of odd for this week's Sepia Saturday here is my odd submission. Maybe this postcard is not odd to other people, but if there's a message here or a hidden (or even obvious) joke, I'm not sure I understand it. Hopefully another Sepian can help me out here and explain it?

Vintage postcard, "Nothing Doing", c.1906

As usual loads more vintage postcards in my online postcard shop

And for anyone interested in psychogeography, urban wandering, edgelands, and ghost signs, you may like to check out my In Search of Space blog where I generally post 2-3 times per week, mainly about my urban wanderings through London during my lunch breaks, and ocassionally after work, where I head off in search of new and interesting places, off the beaten track, and on the lookout for hidden mews, ghost signs, old architecture, etc.

Sepia Saturday 171 - vintage postcards of castles

Wow! I am completely spoilt for choice for this week's Sepia Saturday theme. I have 100's of vintage postcards of castles to choose from, so have had to be very selective and choose, what I think, are the best ones for this post.

I'm starting with Conway Castle in Flintshire, Wales, as this was the very same castle that Alan featured in his prompt. Whilst this is a very different view, you cab still tel it's the same castle. The postcard dates back to the early 1900's and is by the artist Jotter.

 Vintage postcard of Conway Castle, Flintshire, Wales, by the artist Jotter.

The next vintage postcard is of Scalloway Castle in the Shetland Isles (although confusingly the postcard actually says it's in the Orkney Isles). This postcard also dates back to the early 1900's and is by the artist R.Gallon.

 Vintage postcard of Scalloway Castle, Shetland Islands, by the artist R.Gallon.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for this next castle. Firstly because of its association with my primary/junior school, Lady Bankes (named after a royalist who defended Corfe Castle), and secondly because it's somewhere we often drive through on our way to the coast at Swanage.

Vintage postcard of Corfe Castle, Dorset

Just a few miles down the road from where I live today the next castle is Highclere Castle, just inside the Hampshire border. For TV viewers it's better known as Downton Abbey, and in fact the village of Highclere now boasts a sign which says "Twinned with Downton Abbey". It's a bit tacky, but previous to that the castle was famous for the wedding of Jordan and Peter André. Obviously there's a lot more history to the castle that that, and of course there's the Tutankhamun connection.

Vintage postcard of Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey)

 Although I was initially trying to share postcards of less well known castles, I didn't feel my posting would be complete without one of Edinburgh Castle ...

Vintage postcard of Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket

... and similarly Windsor Castle, although hopefully this view of the Cloisters is a less familiar one.

Vintage postcard of the Cloisters, Windsor Castle

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards, including many of castles, can be found on my web site