Sepia Saturday 196 - mother's nurse

I don't have anything related to a doctor to share, but I do have a nurse related, vintage postcard, so I'm almost on theme for this week's Sepia Saturday. The postcard was published by Raphael Tuck in the Flemish Cottage Homes Series III, and the postcard artist is J.A.Heyermans. I would have thought that Flemish Cottage Homes was quite a small niche, but as this would seem to be from the 3rd series, then I guess it was more mainstream in 1905 when the postcard was published.

Vintage postcard, "Mother's Nurse"

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

Theme Thursday - beds

It's been a while since I participated in Theme Thursday as recently I've been working away a lot, but I'm back in for this week's theme of beds. However my take on the theme is perhaps a bit different than expected. Rather than a bed to sleep in I have opted instead for a flower bed, and what better place for a flower bed than Regent's Park in London. This is a Raphael Tuck vintage postcard dating back to1908.

Flower beds, Regents Park, London, c.1908

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

    

Sepia Saturday 122 - Gardening

I have several vintage postcards of gardens that would fit this week's Sepia Saturday theme but after much deliberation I chose this one because it's the only one I have which also includes a gardener. Having said that however, this gardener seems to be standing back and admiring his handiwork rather than being in the action of gardening per-se. The postcard is a Raphael Tuck oilette, features the Parade Gardens, Eastbourne, Sussex, and dates back to the early 1900's.

Eastbourne Parade Gardens, Sussex

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

    

Sailing ships on the Thames

Unfortunately Fridays are no longer the day they used to be for me, and instead of working from home, I seem to spend most Fridays in London now, which typically means I end up missing Postcard Friendship Friday. So here's a late, but hopefully enjoyable, contribution. Both vintage postcards are from Raphael Tuck's Old Father Thames series II, and are by the artist Wyllie.

Greenwich Hospital

Royal Corinthian Club, Port Victoria

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

    

Postcard Friendship Friday 106 - Isle of Wight

Having not participated in Postcard Friendship Friday for a couple of weeks I felt that I ought to put that right. I definitely don't have anything on theme, not even sure I've ever seen a St. Patrick's Day postcard. Instead however I have decided to share a couple of vintage postcards that I came across late last year but have only just processed. They are both of the Isle of Wight, which for those of you not from the UK is a small island just off the South Coast. I love the magnificent colours used by the artist Henry Wimbush. The postcards were both published by Raphael Tuck and date back to the 1900's.

Isle of Wight, Freshwater Bay

Isle of Wight, the Needles

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site, and now also on Pinterest

    

Theme Thursday - Storm

I posted a blog entry of Stormy Seas several months ago, but so as not to repeat myself I have selected a different one to share for this week's Theme Thursday Storm. This is a vintage postcard of the cliffs at Margate, Kent, by the artist G.E.Newton. Postcard was published by Raphael Tuck and dates back to 1904.

Cliffs at Margate by the artist G.E.Newton

    

London War Office - vintage postcard, early 1900's

Every so often I come across a vintage postcard which really stands out from the crowd. This can sometimes be a magnificent view, incredible colours, or simply a fantastic subject. When I found this particular postcard I felt it met all those criteria and more, so am very happy to share it with you all on this week's Postcard Friendship Friday. It's a vintage postcard of the War Office in London, in the early 1900's. The view is along Whitehall with Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey silhouetted in the background. A quick bit of research shows that the building has 7 floors, 1000 rooms and 2.5 miles of corridors. It's still in use today as a government office but is not open to the public, and is no doubt swamped by traffic.

London, The War Office, published by Raphael Tuck

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

    

Fisher Studies, Shrimpers, vintage postcard, c.1911

It's been a few weeks now since I posted on Postcard Friendship Friday. I certainly can't stay 'on theme' as I have no Thanksgiving postcards. In the UK it's not something we celebrate, but I was fortunate enough to be in New York for my 40th birthday back in 2005, where we celebrated with a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the The Tavern on the Green, just off Central Park.

My vintage postcard today is one I picked up a few months ago which until today had nestled at the bottom of a rather large pile on unprocessed postcards. It's published by Raphael Tuck in the Fisher Studies series, and features Shrimpers.

Vintage postcard of Shrimpers, published by Raphael Tuck, c.1911

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards can be seen on my web site, including some recent additions

    

Sepia Saturday 99 - Illustrated Songs, c.1905

For this week's Sepia Saturday I've picked up on the musical theme from this week's posting. Below is a handful of vintage postcards all featuring Illustrated Songs. All four postcards were published by Raphael Tuck, and date back to the early 1900's.

Illustrated Songs, Comin' Thro' the Rye, c.1905

Illustrated Songs, The Meeting of the Water

Illustrated Songs, Killarney, Angels Fold Their Wings and Rest

Illustrated Songs, Killarney, Every Rock That Passes You By

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

    

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'A' ... perhaps

Whenever I get what I think might be a lettercard, I always think that perhaps I'm imagining that I can see a letter in the design. I definitely felt this about the vintage postcard of the letter 'W' that I blogged about a while ago, and this recently acquired vintage postcard is perhaps causing me even more to question my vision. But I'm sure that, what I assume to be some sort of musical instrument, is in fact supposed to represent the letter 'A'. However, I've checked out more cards in the series on the Tuck database, and none of the others seem to suggest a letter at all - what does everyone think? The postcard is a hand-coloured 'carbonette' and was published by Raphael Tuck, in the Fair Women series, number 8801, and dates back to 1918.

Vintage birthday greetings postcard, c.1918

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

Sepia Saturday 91 - Yours Sincerely, Frank

I've decided not to theme again for this week's Sepia Saturday, but hopefully what I have to offer will be of interest. I picked up a whole batch of vintage postcards last week, so now have a pile of 200+ to sort through. These will make their way on to my various blogs and websites over the next few weeks, but for now here are the first couple, with perhaps a mystery to be solved.

The postcard itself is of a cottage in Brading on the Isle of Wight, c.1902. It was published by Raphael Tuck in the "Rural England" series and is postcard number 1469. It's a vignette style postcard as, at that time, senders were only allowed to write on the front of the card, so the white space around the picture is used for the greeting. As you can see the sender of the card has squeezed in about as much as is possible.

Cottage at Brading, Sile of Wight, c.1902

I don't normally share the other side of the card, but the back of this postcard is a great example of an undivided back, allowing the sender to write only the address.

Undivided back of cottage postcard, c.1902

And now for the mystery. I picked up the postcard below in the same batch as the one above. Both seem to be signed by Frank. There is some similarity in the signatures, but also some differences. I can imagine that the signature on the picture of Frank was written very deliberately and carefully, whereas the postcard has been written a bit more impulsively. So, the mystery is, is Frank in the picture the same Frank who wrote the postcard. The postcard of Frank was published by Heyworth's Studios, St. Annes-on-Sea, Lancashire. So if it's the same Frank he must have gone to the Isle of Wight, bought the postcard, and posted it on his way home to Lancashire as the postmark on the cottage postcard is Manchester.

Yours sincerely, Frank

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site, which should be updated over the next few weeks

    

Vintage Postcard for National Dog Day

Great postcard today on this week's Postcard Friendship Friday. National Dog Day is another commemoration I've not come across before. I don't have many postcards of the canine variety but thought that this one fitted the bill quite nicely. It's a Prince Charles Spaniel, by the artist N.Drummond. The postcard was published by Raphael Tuck and dates back to 1921.

Prince Charles Spaniel by the artist N.Drummond, c.1921

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

Vintage postcard of Barra Head, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

When I first came across this postcard, I assumed it was just anouth 'rough seas' postcard of somewhere like Brighton, Blackpool or Hastings, of which I have several. It wasn't until today when I started to enter my latest batch into my database that I realised that this one was a bit different, and of somewhere that I'd never heard of before. A quick internet search surprised me even more, in that this postcard was of somewhere in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain off the west coast of Scotland.

The written greeting is also quite unusual and it reads, 'Dear Old Woman, What a pity that when you swept the sky you did not sweep the rain down, when are you going again?. I have absolutely no idea what that means.

Vintage postcard of Barra Head, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, by the artist G.E.Newton, published by Raphael Tuck in the 'Scottish Rough Seas' series, number 257

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

    

Sepia Saturday 79: Stormy Seas

To keep on theme this week with Alan's Sepia Saturday posting, I am sharing a couple of vintage postcards of rough seas, although I hope Alan's Atlantic crossing is much smoother than that. The pictures are almost identical, but not quite - perhaps I should start a "spot the difference" competition. Some of the differences are obvious, for example the seagulls towards the top right-hand corner. I am however assuming they are the same picture, but with a degree of Victorian 'airbrushing' applied. There's probably a technical term for this which I'm sure someone out there will know.

On the beach, Blackpool, published by Raphael Tuck, by the artist G.E.Newton, c.1903

On the beach, Blackpool, published by Raphael Tuck

    

Lots more Raphael Tuck vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 78: Not the tallest but one of the greatest

Apologies for the somewhat bold claim in the title of my post this week for Sepia Saturday, but it's how I feel about Big Ben ... ok so that's not quite factually correct as Big Ben is actually the name of the great bell inside the clock, but its use as the name of the whole structure is now common place. Whilst it may not be the tallest building ever made, to my mind it's one of the most impressive. This vintage postcard sums it up for me quite nicely, and the sky in the background is looking quite impressive, albeit in a menacing way, as well.

Big Ben, London, vintage postcard published by Raphael Tuck

    

More vintage postcards of London can be found on my web site

Vintage postcards: Charles Dickens

I was very pleased to pick up these 3 wonderful postcards a few weeks ago. They are all from Raphael Tuck's In Dickens Land series, although each from a different series. What's also great about these postcards for me is that I've discovered a new postcard artist, P. Fletcher-Watson.

The Leather Bottle, Cobham, published by Raphael Tuck in the 'In Dickens Land' series II, number 1164, c.1909

Charles Dickens's House, Gadshill, published by Raphael Tuck in the 'In Dickens Land' series I, number 1163, c.1904

The White Hart, Hook, Surrey, published by Raphael Tuck in the 'In Dickens Land' series, number 1350, c.1903

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

Vintage Postcards by the artist Jotter

Jotter is one of those postcard artists whose postcards seem to turn up infrequently, but when they do they are usually quite special. I have only a handful or which these 3 are probably my favourites, with the one of Cambridge being my absolute favourite.

St. John's College. Cambridge, c.1909

Bray Head, County Wick, Ireland, published by Raphael Tuck

Flatford Valley Farm, Suffolk, published by Wildt and Kray

As usual old postcards like these and hundreds of others can be found on my web site

Vintage postcard of Sandwich, Kent

Sandwich in Kent is a place I must have been to tens of times a a very young child as it was not far from Deal, where my parents grew up and my grandmother lived. I have however only been back once and that was probably 20 years ago now so I don't really have many memories about it apart from the river. Again, as with so many other places in my vintage postcard collection, it's on the list to visit.

This particular postcard of Sandwich shows a structure called The Barbican, which from the brief research I undertook, and despite its ancient appearance, is still there today and looking remarkably similar.

The Barbican, Sandwich, Kent, published by Raphael Tuck

The postcard is unused but I would guess that it dates back to the 1900's. It's an oilette postcards, published in Raphael Tuck's 'Picturesque Counties' series, number 7116.

More vintage postcards of Kent, and 100's from elsewhere can be found on my vintage postcard web site

Vintage postcard advent calendar - December 19th, 20th and 21st

Once again I seem to have managed to get hopelessly behind with what I had hoped to be daily postings, so today I'm posting 3-in-1 again. These are all vintage Christmas greetings cards rather than postcards. My favourite is the first one, probably because it's by one of my favourite publishers, Raphael Tuck.

Vintage Christmas card published by Raphael Tuck

Vintage Christmas card, published by Wildt and Kray

Vintage Christmas card, published by Wildt and Kray

As always, 100's more vintage postcards on my web site, and the full vintage postcard advent calendar

    

Vintage postcard advent calendar - December 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th

I didn't quite plan to post 4 days in one but the weather in Europe this week changed my plans. Following a delayed flight to Cologne which was diverted to Frankfurt because Cologne airport was briefly closed and the plane did not have enough fuel to continue circling, we eventually arrived at Cologne some 4 hours late at 2am. This was followed by 2 days of meetings and a bit of Christmas partying, so needless to say even though I'd prepared myself to upload in my absence there was no time - I must investigate the 'post options' for a future time. Anyway, enough rambling, below are the vintage postcards and cards for December 14th - 17th.

Vintage Christmas Greetings postcard, published by Raphael Tuck, by the artist Ernest Longstaffe, c.1908.

Vintage Christmas card published by Wildt and Kray

Vintage Christmas Greetings postcard, published by Ernest Nister, c.1913

Vintage Christmas card published by Raphael Tuck

Check out my web site for the full vintage postcard advent calendar