Sepia Saturday 131 - all the fun of the fair

I know I have shared one of these vintage postcards before when I wrote a posting about the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition last year some time, but please excuse me for a degree of repetition as they seem to fit this week's Sepia Saturday theme quite well. They are both vintage postcards of a ride called Flip-Flap which boatsed 150 foot arms topped with carriages, each holding 40 or so people, providing them with spectacular views as far out as Windsor and Crystal Palace.

1908 Franco-British Exhibition, Flip-Flap

1908 Franco-British Exhibition, Flip-Flap

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

    

Franco-British Exhibition 1908, vintage postcards

Inspired by this week's Sepia Saturday I have decided to re-post this blog post from 2010 ...

Over the few years that I've been collecting vintage postcards I have found a variety of different cards from the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. The exhibition was held in the White City area to the west of central London, and had something in the region of 8 million visitors. Most of the buildings which made up the exhibition are long gone and during my research I was dismayed to find that the last remaining buildings were demolished and replaced by a shopping centre.

My favourite card is probably the first one, the bird's-eye view, as it gives a fantastic impression of the size and scale of the event 100 years on. The Flip-Flap card comes a close second, primarily for the crowd admiring it in wonder.

I notice from my reasearch that other attractions included an Irish village and a Sengalese village, amongst many others, so I'll be keeping an eye open for postcards of those.

Bird's-eye View, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Raphael Tuck, series number 3524

In Elite Gardens, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Valentine

Fine Art Palace, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Valentine

Court of Honour Illuminated, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Raphael Tuck, series number 3524

Palace of British Applied Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Bonnett and Schum

Flip-Flap, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Valentine

Western Lagoon, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Valentine

French East Africa Palace, Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, published by Valentine

As always, 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my vintage postcards web site

Related books on amazon.com ...

    

Related books on amazon.co.uk ...