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 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 154 - bridges

It seems that time is not my own again this week so I was pleased to have an easy theme for this week's Sepia Saturday. However I didn't realise quite how many vintage postcards of bridges I had until I looked though, so I had a challenge of a different sort this week in which ones to choose. Hopefully there's something for everyone in the ones I ended up with ...

Long Bridge, Barnstaple, Devon

 Chelmsford, Public Park, Rustic Bridge, c.1905

Clifton Suspension Bridge, c.1905

Glen Esk, Gannochy Bridge, c.1903

Rochester Bridge

Stafford, the Essex Bridge, c.1905

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

   

Sepia Saturday 139 - bones

I'm back in this week after an absence of almost 4 weeks while I've been in California (more of which later as I update my In Search of Space blog during the week). I can't say I have many pictures of bones in my collection to follow this week's Sepia Saturday theme. Dogs seemed a more obvious theme, but as I have posted blog entries about dogs before, I decided to stick with my only vintage postcard which features bones. These are, I assume, bones from a whale jaw and as far as I can make out are still there today.

Jaw Bones, Teignmouth, Devon

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

    

Sepia Saturday 110 - Theatre

From Alan's submission for this week's Sepia Saturday I have selected Theatre. I couldn't decide which of my theatre vintage postcards to share to decided on a few of them. My favourite is probably the Greek Theatre at Bradfiled College, in Berkshire, which is not too far away from where I live, although I've never been there. I did see an open air Shakespeare production once at the Pangbourne theatre, where rain stopped play half-way through and the play had to contunie indoors.

Cliftonville, Cliff Theatre and Ethelbert Terrace

Bradfield College, the Greek Theatre

Dartington Hall, Open Air Theatre

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

    

Vintage Postcard of London Bridge in Torquay, Devon

Thought I'd share another of my new batch of vintage postcards for this week's Postcard Friendship Friday. This is of London Bridge, but it's not in London, it's actually a limestone arch, in Torquay, Devon. The postcard was published by S.Hildesheimer. It's postally unused so I can't be sure of the date. but these card normally date back to 1905 - 1911. The postcard is artist drawn but I cannot see any indication of the artist's name. If anyone has any more information I'd love to know.

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

    

Sepia Saturday 67 - Barnstaple Long Bridge

I've not been a Sepia Saturday 'themer' for a few weeks now, so thought this week I'd try and stay on topic. Here's a vintage postcard of the Long Bridge, Barnstaple, Devon. A beautiful part of the country if you've not been. Last Easter we spent a few days nearby and managed a great family bike ride along the Tarka Trail, taking in Barnstaple en route.

Long Bridge, Barnstaple, Devon

More vintage postcards on my web site

More postcards from the tatty pile

Following from all the great comments in reactions to last week's post, I've decided to blog again this week from my 'tatty' pile. These 3 are all artist drawn, vintage postcards. My favourite is the middle one - I think the creases contribute well to the picture. The artists Arthur de Breanski and S.Endacott do not seem to turn up very often, and I think I only have a handful by each ... and as for E.W.Haslehurst, I'm pretty sure this is the only postcard I have.

Clovelly, Devon, by the artist S.Endacott, published by Worth and Co.

Stormy Sea, by the artist Arthur de Breanski, published by C.W.Faulkner, c.1925

Lynmouth, by the artist E.W.Haslehurst, published by Mansell

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site ... and don't forget to check out my vintage magazine blog and my in search of space blog

Artist drawn vintage postcards of Clovelly, Devon

I really wish I had some Thanksgiving postcards to share along with all the great ones posted on the various blogs I follow, but in the UK it's not something we celebrate and I've never even come across any. I was almost tempted to start blogging my Christmas postcards but will hold off until December if I can. So, for my submission to Postcard Freindship Friday this week, I've decided to share some vintage postcards of Clovelly in North Devon. Most of the postcards of Clovelly I've had in the past are of the hill leading to/from the harbour and beach, but these 3 are actually of the harbour and beach. All 3 are artist drawn postcards, published by Raphael Tuck, but only the 2nd one has an artist name, G.H.Jenkins. None of them have been posted but I would guess the date to be early 1900's.

As always, 100's more vintage postcards and vintage magazines and books can be found on my 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

Mills, watermills and windmills

Following my recent departure away from topographical postcards, I have ended up returning to them quicker that I thought ... and I think the cards shown below speak for themselves as to why. I had intended this blog's post to be about windmills, but when I searched my folder for the word 'mill', these beautiful postcards came up, some of which I'd completely forgotten about, so instead I have decided to share these today.

All of the postcards below are artist drawn, although I have only been able to find an artist name on one of them. The C.W.Faulkner panel card is quite an interesting one, printed (or actually possibly mounted) on card several times thicker than a normal postcard.

Water mill, by the artist F.W.Hayes, published by Meissner and Buch, serie 1789

Shiplake lock and mill, Oxfordshire, published by B.B.London Ltd

Agwill Mill, South Devon. Panel postcard published by C.W.Faulkner

Iffley Mill, Oxfordshire, published by S.Hildesheimer, c.1905

Rottingdean Mill, Kent 

Related books on amazon.com ...
    


Related books on amazon.co.uk ...
    

As always, 100's of other vintage postcards can be found on my vintage postcards website

Vintage Postcards - Church Parade

Until this week I thought that the vintage postcard I had of Church Parade in Scarborough, Yorkshire, was simply the name of the road shown on the postcard. However, on finding another postcard of Church Parade, this time from Ilfracombe in Devon, I decided to take a closer look at the postcards. I guess if I'd have spent any meaningful time studying the original postcard in more detail I would probably have realised this, but clearly they are actually of a church parade. Each postcard shows hundreds of people in their "Sunday Best".

Church Parade, Scarborough, Yorkshire, c.1907

Church Parade, Capstone, Ilfracombe, Devon

As always, hundreds of vintage postcards for sale can be found on my web site

Vintage postcards of English counties

It was only recently when my English counties vintage postcards web page was getting too big and I was giving some of the English counties their own web page, that I realised there were a handful of English counties of which I've only ever had only 3 or 4 postcards, and in some cases just 1 or 2. Those where I seem to have the most postcards are Devon, Sussex, London, Yorkshire and Kent, whereas in contrast I have only ever come across 3 or 4 from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire, and as far as I can tell I've only ever had one from Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire. My assumption is that the more prolific counties were those with a tourist or cultural interest, e.g. seaside towns, historic buildings and monuments, etc. So, a rather long-winded introduction, but today's blog entry is dedicated to those counties from which I have only ever found a small number of vintage postcards.

Pavilion, Victoria Park, Leicester, Leicestershire, c.1911 - 1930

Wingrave Church, Buckinghamshire

Bedford, a Peep on the Ouse, c.1904

Nottingham University and lake, c.1956


You'll find hundreds more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcard of Anstey's Cove, Torquay, Devon, c.1903

Today's vintage postcard is a beautiful example from 1903. It's a vignette style postcard of Anstey's Cove, Torquay, Devon.

The greeting on the front of the postcard reads "It is lovely here today and I hope the weather has at last become more settled". Good to see the brit's fascination with the weather existed even 100 years ago, and that given this postcard was sent in August it's interesting to see they had perhaps been having a disappointing summer until that point ... sound familiar?

The undivided back of the postcard is also a real bonus, showing a clear 1903 Paignton duplex B69 postmark. The card was sent from Paignton to Aberavon, South Wales on August 19th 1903.