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

    

Postcard Friendship Friday 143 - Garden of Sleep, Cromer

It's been several months since I posted for Postcard Friendship Friday as I used to work from home on a Friday but now seem to be in London most weeks instead. However, as I've had this week off on annual leave, I have managed to find a few minutes to participate. Living in the UK, I don't have anything relating to Thanksgiving to share (other than my best wishes for all you folks stateside) but I have picked up several interesting vintage postcards recently, of which this is just one. I guess the Garden of Sleep is quite a sombre theme, but at the same time the postcard feels slightly uplifting and offering peace.

The writing on the reverse of the postcard is very feint, but I can just about make out that it was sent to France, and that the sender spent today in the Garden of Sleep listening to the sea.

Garden of Sleep, Cromer, Norfolk, published by Valentine, c.1909.

100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcards of Norwich

For this week's PFF I thought I'd share a couple of vintage postcards from yet another place that I've only ever visited through my postcard collection ... Norwich, in the county of Norfolk. At probably 3 hours by car, it's not that far from where I live but travelling anywhere diagonally across England is never easy. By train I'm not even sure how I would travel there as the crow flies - I suspect I would have to go into London Paddington, across to Liverpool Street on the tube, and up to Norwich from there, which would be a minimum of 3 different trains. Even before the Beeching cuts of the 1960's, this journey would still have been a challenge by train without going via London. It feels like the sort of place to go to when you're not in a hurry.

Pull's Ferry, Norwich, by artist Darren Williams, c.1905

Bishop's Bridge, Norwich, c.1914

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

Great Yarmouth Pavilion and Bandstand

Today I thought I'd share a vintage postcard of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, c.1906. I think in the past I blogged about bandstands and pavilions, and these are great examples of them, both of which still seem to be standing and in active use today.

Great Yarmouth, Wellington Gardens and Pavilion, c.1906

As well as the great view on the front of the postcard, it also has a squared circle postmark from Melton Constable one. I assumed Melton Constable must have been a fairly small place as I'd never heard of it before. A bit of research showed that it had a population of just 518 in 2001 but at its heyday in 1911 had a population of 1,157. Once the junction of 4 railway lines, which is how the village grew, it now has no railway at all and even the station has been recently demolished. On a more positive note however, I have just read that it may be re-opened as part of the Norfolk Orbital railway, which would be great news indeed.

Melton Constable squared circle postmark

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

Bridges of Great Britain

One of the things I do to take my mind off how steep a hill is when I'm out cycling is to occupy my mind with other activity. So it was about just over half-way up a steep climb on to the Wayfarer's Walk that I decided on today's blog theme ... bridges. I've tried to include my more interesting postcards here, the majority of which are artist drawn, although all with unique styles. I particularly like the artist style in the Tyne Bridge postcards, especially the cars.

Bridge on the Morrow, Monmouth, Wales, c.1918

Tyne Bridge, Newcastle-on-Tyne, by the artist G.W.Blow. Published by Valentine, number A1692.

Bishop's Bridge, Norwick, Norfolk, c.1914

The Canal Bridge, Newbury, Berkshire, c.1904, published by Valentine

Carrick-a-Rede, the Rope Bridge, Country Antrim, Northern Ireland

As usual these and hundred of vintage postcards like them can be found on my vintage postcards web pages

Zig-zag paths

A slightly unusual vintage postcard topic being shared today ... that of 'zig zag' paths. Again this was something like my Church Parade vintage postcard finds which I assumed were a one-off, but I now have at least 3 zig-zag path vintage postcards of different locations. Thinking about it a bit more, I guess that zig-zag paths are not uncommon ways of negotiating one's way down a steep hill or cliff, but are not perhaps something I would ever imagine appearing on a postcard. Interestingly, all 3 postcards have a pier in the background, so perhaps the view from the zig-path was just another take of a pier postcard.

The Zig-Zag, West Cliff, Cromer, Norfolk, c.1958, by the artist C.T.Howard, published by J.Salmon Ltd., number 4227.

View from Zig-zag path, Bournemouth, Dorset, published by Frith

Zig zag paths, Folkestone, Kent, c.1925, published by Valentine, number 86819

I think my favourite one is probably the one of Folkestone, with all the people in their Sunday best takiing their Sunady promenade or holiday walk.

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

Vintage postcards of Wells-Next-the-Sea, Norfolk

Apart from the enjoyment of acquiring and collecting vintage postcards, one of the additional benefits, for me anyway, is that it furthers my knowledge about different places. I've certainly come across parts of England that I was blissfully unaware of until I started. One of these was Clovelly, in Devon, which I added to my list of places to visit and managed a trip there last Easter, in beautiful weather.

However, for this blog entry I'm going to share a few vintage postcards from Wells-Next-the-Sea, in Norfolk. Until acquiring these postcards the only Wells I'd heard of was the Wells in Somerset. Initially confusing was that one of the postcards is simply called 'Wells' but had a coastline. A bit of digging revealed this to be Wells-Next-the-Sea, which of course does have a coastline, rather than Wells in Somerset, which doesn't.

Wells-Next-the-Sea, the Quay, M&L National Series

Wells-Next-the-Sea, Lakeside Walk, Abraham's Bosom, c.1953, published by Frith, number WLS 25

The Beach, Wells [next the sea], RA series

So all-in-all, it looks a lovely place and one that I hope to get the opportunity to visit in the not too distant future.