Sepia Saturday 157 - Christmas 2012

I've shared pretty much all of my festive, vintage postcards over the years, so was pleased to pick up a couple of new ones last weekend, and just in time for this week's Sepia Saturday.

Christmas Greetings, Shakespeare Memorial, by the artist Elmer Keene, c.1905

A Merry Xmas, c.1907

As usual, 100's of vintage postcards on my web site, and about 200 new ones to be added over the Christmas break. A very Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone who reads and comments on my blog posts ... and if you've not looked at my vintage postcard advent calendar yet, why not take a peek and see what's behind today's window.

Postcard Friendship Friday 146

I really should be going off to be now as I have to catch the early train to London in the morning, so just a short post to participate in this week's Postcard Friendship Friday and share a couple of recently acquired vintage Christmas postcards. I don't usually pick up postcards which are from other countries, but these 2 caught my eye.

Vintage Christmas postcard from Finland, c.1933

Vintage Christmas postcard from Estonia, c.1927

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

    
... and don't forget to check out my vintage postcards advent calendar which features a different vintage Christmas postcard or card behind each window up to December 25th ... but no peeking !!

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

   

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

Sepia Saturday 153 - children in oriental costume

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has been following this blog. Today I reached 100 followers. My vintage magazines blog and In Search of Space blog are less well read, so if you have time maybe cast your eye their way to see if there's anything of interest.

I am a bit early posting this week as I have a couple of days of work as our leave year comes to an end next week. Today has been spent catching up on a few maintenance activities on my web site, which were long overdue and hopefully my site is better for having carried them out. In particular I have played around with the image sizes and code on a couple of my postcard pages, and now they seem to load much quicker than before, so fingers-crossed people will not get bored waiting for the images to load. Bear with me though please as I've only updated a handful of the more regularly visited pages for now to see what the impact is. I have also added a batch of vintage railway magazines which I've had sitting around on my desk for a few months. Again this is work in progress, with about the same number still to add. Tomorrow will see us forming our annual, advanced party on the Christmas shopping front in Winchester, so no time for PC work then, hence my early posting this week. Phew!

So, on to this week's Sepia Saturday and staying reasonably on theme. I have always been intrigued by postcards of people or groups of people which have no text or annotation to say who they are or what they are doing. I can only assume they were produced for a very small audience who knew exactly what they were. One such vintage postcard I picked up a week or two back is the one I've included below. I assume this is some sort of school play, or perhaps some childhood amateur dramatic society, but really I have no idea as there's no clue on the postcard, and no date either. I know there are some super-sleuths out there, so maybe someone has an idea?

Vintage postcard of children in oriental costumes

As usual 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my (hopefully speeded-up) website

Sepia Saturday 152 - Reading Room, S.S.Adriatic

Curious picture on this week's Sepia Saturday. I was immediately drawn to the theme of libraries, but then realised I had done a library blog post earlier this year, so instead I delved deep and found a library related, vintage postcard. It's not a library as such, but it is the Reading and Writing Room on board the S.S.Adriatic. Clearly though, this was a place to bring your own books.

S.S.Adriatic, Reading and Writing Room

As usual 100's of vintage postcards and vintage magazines on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 150 - Dublin

From the picture posted in this week's Sepia Saturday I have picked out Dublin as the theme and have included a few vintage postcards. As with most major cities I would imagine the streets shown now bear very little resemblance to those shown in the postcards, and I suspect the trams have been replaced long ago with cars, cars and more cars.

 O'Connell Street, Dublin

Sackville Street, Dublin

St. Stephen's Green Park, Dublin

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

    

Sepia Saturday 149 - Spa

Another late Sepia Saturday posting from me again this week, but I have a good excuse in that I was out making the most of the autumn leaves. I was really struggling with the theme until I spotted Kat's mention of the word "spa" which rescued me from going off theme. So, without further ado, here are a few vintage postcards of various spa towns in the UK.

Spa from the pier, Bridlington, Yorkshire

Royal Pump Rooms, Lower Parade, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

Scarborough Spa, Promenade and Bay, Yorkshire

The Spa, Scarborough, Yorkshire

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

    

Sepia Saturday 146 - R.M.S. Queen Mary

I was all prepared to be nice and early again for this week's Sepia Saturday but once again time ran away from me. I have however managed to stay on theme, and my image this week also includes a ship, the R.M.S.Queen Mary to be precise. The picture is one of five on a multiview, vintage postcard of Southsea, Hampshire.

Vintage postcard of Southsea, showing the R.M.S.Queen Mary

I did consider just showing this one postcard, but thought I'd also include the following two for good measure.

Cunard R.M.S. Carinthia, by the artist C.E.Turner, c.1965

R.M.S. Narkunda, by the artist John H Fry, c.1936

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

    

Sepia Saturday 145 - George Best

I don't have any sepia items related to football, apart from perhaps my ability to play, which is definitely on the sepia side. My footballing these days is now done mainly as a spectator, with the very occasional game of footie in the garden with the kids, who are all much better than I ever was. However I do have this vintage postcard of the famous footballer George Best which seems an appropriate match for this week's Sepia Saturday. The photograph shown on the postcard was taken by Sefton Samuels in 1968, and was sold to support the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Vintage postcard of George Best

As usual 100's of vintage postcards and vintage magazines on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 144 - Admiralty Arch, London

For the 2nd week running I have been almost too busy to participate in Sepia Saturday. The only plus side of this morning's dark and damp weather is that I have managed to find a few minutes to produce a submission, albeit not on theme this week. The vintage postcards below are of Admiralty Arch in London, which sits at the opposite end of the Mall to Buckingham Palace. When I used to have meetings in our old office in the Strand, instead of getting the tube across from Paddington I would oftern walk down through Hyde Park, Green Park, and then along the Mall, going under Admiralty Arch before weaving my way along the Strand to the office.

Admiralty Arch, London

Admiralty Arch, showing the Mall and Buckingham Palace, London

As usual 100's of vintage postcards including plenty of London can be found on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 142 - Coracle Men

As I've blogged various hats in the past, I have decided not to stick with the theme for this week's Sepia Saturday, although there are a couple of hats in my choice. The vintage postcard below shows the Cenarth Bridge, in Wales, and Coracle Men. A coracle is a small lightweight boat, used for river fishing, and small enough to be carried on the back of the fisherman.

Vintage postcard of Cenarth Bridge and Coracle Men, published by Valentine

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

    

If you enjoyed this post, or others in my vintage postcards blog, why not also check out my other blogs covering vintage magazines and another for things which don't really fit anywhere else, called In Search of Space

Vintage postcards of Southport

Southport is yet another place I have only visited through my vintage postcard collection, but there's enough here to make me want to pay a visit one day. Originally part of Lancashire, but now in Merseyside, it lies on the west cost between Liverpool and Preston. To be honest I don't know quite what to make of these vintage postcards though. They are all real photographs but have, I assume, been colour-tinted somehow. Some of the colour detail is quite delicate and intricate, whereas other parts of it is quite bold and garish.

Good luck from Southport

In Hesketh Park, Southport

Southport multiview

The Promenade, Southport

100's of vintage postcards can be found on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 140 - lillies

I do not seem to have any wedding related material to share for this week's Sepia Saturday and as I have the world's worst haircut in my own wedding photo, I won't be sharing that. However I did notice that the bride is holding some lillies, so I thought I would include in selection of lillies.

Easter Lily, Bermuda

Fountain and Lily Pond, Hampton Court Palace

Miss Lily Elise

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

    

Sunday Stamps 84 - historical buildings of Hong Kong

After a break of a few weeks on account of my summer holiday in California I'm back in again for this week's Sunday Stamps, and am glad the theme is anything you wish as it means I don't have to get the grey matter up and running. The first day cover below is another of my Hong Kong first day covers, and features historical buildings.

First Day Cover, Historical Buildings, c.1986

The buildings shown are:

40c - Hung Sing Temple

$1.00 - St. John's Cathedral

$1.30 - The Old Supreme Court Building

$5.00 - Wan Chai Post Office

Check out my recent blog posting of Hong Kong Dragon Boats

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

    

Sunday Stamps 79 - flags

Flags is another of those themes where I was sure I had plenty of suitable stamps, but to my surprise it actually took quite a lot of looking to find something to post for this week's Sunday Stamps. The three stamps below were issued in 1973 to commemorate Britain's entry into the European Community. The image of the Union Jack flag portrayed as a piece of a tightly fitting jigsaw puzzle is perhaps showing the test of time some 40 years later.

European Communities, c.1973

What I never knew before was that Great Britain tried to join back in 1960 but the application was vetoed by the then French President, Charles de Gaulle, who was concerned about the US influence.

    

Sepia Saturday 134 - oh baby baby

I can't remember if I have shared these carte de visite before, but they seem to fit well with this week's Sepia Saturday theme. Not sure about a date, but I would guess these go back to the early 1900's. The child in the first CDV looks quite alert and potentially mischevious, whereas the one in the second CDV does not look at all happy, with a stuck out lower lip.

CDV published by Beales and Sons, New Road, Spalding

CDV published by The Park Studio, Henry Spink, Preston Road, Brighton

    

You may also be interested in my vintage magazines blog or my In Search of Space blog

Sunday Stamps 78 - yellow

I found lots of inspiration for this weeks Sunday Stamps theme of yellow in my stamp collection, but eventually decided on this one. It's a yellow 4d stamp, showing the Jodrell Bank telescope, and was issued in September 1966.

4d Jodrell Bank

The stamp was issued in a set of four stamps commemorating British Technology. I only have two of the set, and if you'll all forgive me straying off theme slightly, I also wanted to share the second stamp in the set, which is an orange 6d stamp showing various British cars, including probably my favourite car of all time, the e-type Jaguar, as driven by Mrs Peel in the Avengers. The other two stamps in the series were a 1s 3d Hovercraft stamp, and a 1s 6d Nuclear Power stamp. Incidentally, the 6d cars stamp is featured in Simon Garfield's book The Error World: An Affair With Stamps where he writes about a rare, errored, version of the stamp which only included the e-type jaguar and not the three minis.

6d e-type Jaguar and 3 Minis

    

Postcard Friendship Friday 123 - Friends

I'm a bit late this week with my submission to Postcard Friendship Friday as I've been travelling with work and only just returned from India this morning. An enjoyable trip but not quite as exotic as it might first sound as it was mainly a short business trip, but fun nevertheless. However when I saw this week's postcard, I instantly knew the vintage postcard I would share ... seems to fit quite nicely with Beth's postcard and her thoughts about friendship. The postcard dates back to 1909 and the verse reads ...

Friends are treasures, old or new,
Priceless if they are only true,
Those who have them bear in mind,
In this world they're hard to find.

If new friends are silver, old friends are gold, c.1909

As usual, many more vintage postcards can be found on my web site

    

Sunday Stamps 77 - the National Trust, St. Kilda

I wasn't quite sure where to go for this week's Sunday Stamps theme of Scenic Natural Areas but I eventually decided on this first day cover from June 1981 which shows various National Trust locations in the UK. The locations from left to right are:

• St. Kilda, Scotland
• Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
• Stackpole Head, Wales
• Derwentwater, England
• Glenfinnan, Scotland

The National Trusts, first day cover, June 1981

I am familiar with all of these places except St. Kilda, which I had heard of but knew very little about. It was populated until 1930, but numbers were typically between 100 and 200. It was eventually evacuated for a number of reasons, some accounts say voluntarily, others say forcibly. With book titles like The Truth about St. Kilda it certainly suggests this was not as amicable as other accounts would make out. It now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland, and in 1986 became a World Hertiage site. More information about this incredible story can be found in these books.

    

You might also be interested in my other blogs which cover vintage magazines and another called In Search of Space which covers subjects that don't really fit anywhere else.

Sepia Saturday 130 - Leamington Spa

The only thing I could find in my collection of goodies which vaguely fitted in with the prompts for this week's Sepia Saturday was a vintage postcard of rabbits playing badmington, which I have already blogged back in 2010, so instead I am going off theme this week. I have chosen somewhere that I think I have driven past rather than through, so my only real experience of the place in through my vintage postcards. The town is Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. Looking at the postcards this morning has added Leamington to my ever increasing list of places to visit. It's definitely possible as a day trip from where we live, just need to find some time.

 Royal Pump Rooms, Lower Parade, Leamington Spa, c.1952

Pump Room and Parade from above Victoria Bridge, Leamington Spa, c.1948

Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa, c.1908

Jephson Temple, Leamington Spa, c.1915

More vintage postcards of Warwickshire 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

    

Sunday Stamps 76 - Hong Kong, Dragon Boats

Looks like the sun has finally decided to come out today, so I really should go and do something outside. Just time however to share a post for this week's Sunday Stamps. Fortunately, with the theme being anything you wish again this week, I didn't need to rack my brain too much. The stamps below are a commemorative set from Hong King, c.1986, and feature a Dragon Boat festival. On taking this cover out of its sleeve to scan it in, I discovered 2 more Hong Kong commemorative covers tucked in behind this one. If a suitable theme comes up over the next few weeks/months then I'll try and share the other 2 as well.

Commemorative cover - Dragon Boat Festival, Hong Kong, c.1986

Commemorative cover - Dragon Boat Festival, Hong Kong, c.1986