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

    

Vintage postcards of Edinburgh by the artist A.Raeburn

We braved the garden yesterday to do some much needed clearing up, but today the weather is really grim and nasty. I love the UK and cannot imagine myself living anywhere else, apart from maybe the US west coast, but today has definitely got me wishing we had a winter retreat somewhere warm. Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that I'm stuck indoors with some free time, so time for another posting. These postcard are all of Edinburgh, Scotland, by the artist A.Raeburn.

Vintage postcard of Bakehouse Close, Edinburgh, by the artist A.Raeburn

 Vintage postcard of Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket, by the artist A.Raeburn

 

Vintage postcard of the Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh, by the artist A.Raeburn 

Vintage postcard of Riddels Court, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, by the artist A.Raeburn

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

And for something a bit different why not head over to my In Search of Space blog, to read about my Urban Wanderings around London and other places.

    

Artist drawn, vintage postcards of Suffolk, Sussex and Yorkshire

Over the past few weeks I have picked up some artist drawn, vintage postcards by artists that I've either not come across before, or who are uncredited on the postcards. Given the long, bank holiday weekend, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a few of them here.

Vintage postcard of Ye Olde Neptune Inn, Ipswich, Suffolk, by the artist Parsons-Norman

Vintage postcard of Petergate, York, by the artist T.Guy

Vintage postcard of The Land Gate, Rye, Sussex, by the artist W.H.Burrow

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

And if you like this blog, how about popping over to have a look at my vintage magazines blog or my In Search of Space blog ... the latter is probably my most active blog at the moment and it charts my urban wanderings through London, inspired by some recent psychogeography reads.

 

Sepia Saturday 169 - vintage postcards of obelisks and monuments

A return to my vintage postcards blog for this week's Sepia Saturday. I'm staying on theme this week but have looked a bit further into the distance on this week's picture, and am theming on the monument in the background. So, this be an obelisk, admittedly a mightily big one, my first picture is a sepia, vintage postcard of the obelisk (or obelisque) at Matarieh, which is in Cairo. I've written blog posts featuring vintage postcards of Egypt in the past, but don't think I included this postcard before.

Sepia, vintage postcard of the Obelisque at Matarieh, Cairo, Egypt

The next picture is also of an obelisk, and shows the Martyr's Monument and Bathing station at St. Andrew's, in Scotland. This vintage postcard is one I don't actually recall in my collection, but it came up when I searched through my database for monument. Interestingly it also features a bathing station, and although having written a vintage postcard blog post about outdoor baths and bathing pools back in 2010, I didn't feature this postcard then either.

Vintage postcard of the Martyr's Monument and Bathing Station, St. Andrew's, Scotland

Finally, we have the Wallace Monument, in Stirling, Scotland. This actually fits the theme in two ways, in that it aligns to my original choice of monuments, but is also artist drawn, so maybe there were a cluster of artists gathered around this landmark, bringing it to life on canvas.

Vintage postcard of the Wallace Monument, Stirling, Scotland

As usual, loads more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and in fact over the past week or so I have added 70 or more new additions.

    

Sepia Saturday 167 - Vintage postcards of Cornish waters

A great picture by Alan for this week's Sepia Saturday, and plenty of prompts, but alas I have covered piers and a steam ship fairly recently so have opted for water instead, although both of postcards do also include ships.

The ship on the first postcard looks disproportionately big compared to the canal, but at the same time the canal looks wider than a normal canal. Maybe my old eyes are deceiving me ... makes me think of the Father Ted episode where Ted is trying to explain size and distance to Dougal ... "These Cows Are Small, Those Cows Are Far Away!"

Vintage postcard of a ship on the canal, Bude, Cornwall

Vintage postcard of Charlestown Harbour Entrance, Cornwall

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