Sepia Saturday 199 - vintage postcards of theatres

Having blogged a few times with vintage postcards of actresses and actors, I though that I'd diversify a bit for this week's Sepia Saturday and share some vintage postcards of theatres themselves.

First up with have the Greek Theatre at Bradfield College, Berkshire. More of an amphitheatre than a theatre though I think.

Vintage postcard of the Greek Theatre, Bradfield College

 Next up is the Cliff Theatre in Cliftonville, Kent. I'm not sure which building is actually the theatre, and I can't see any cliffs either. I'm guessing it's within the building named "The Gay Parade".

Vintage postcard of the Cliff Theatre and Ethelbert Terrace, Cliftonville, Kent

Another open air theatre, this time in Devon. A lovely setting but I suspect you  might need to bring your own chair or blanket to this one.

Vintage postcard of the Open Air Theatre. Dartington Hall, Devon

 The next two vintage postcards are both incarnations of the same theatre, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, in Stratford-on-Avon. The first postcard shows the original theatre which was opened in 1879 but destroyed by fire in 1926.

Vintage postcard of the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

The second postcard is of the theatre which was rebuilt there in 1932 and was apparently one of the first buildings to be designed by a woman architect.

Vintage postcard of the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

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

   

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

    

Sepia Saturday 110 - Theatre

From Alan's submission for this week's Sepia Saturday I have selected Theatre. I couldn't decide which of my theatre vintage postcards to share to decided on a few of them. My favourite is probably the Greek Theatre at Bradfiled College, in Berkshire, which is not too far away from where I live, although I've never been there. I did see an open air Shakespeare production once at the Pangbourne theatre, where rain stopped play half-way through and the play had to contunie indoors.

Cliftonville, Cliff Theatre and Ethelbert Terrace

Bradfield College, the Greek Theatre

Dartington Hall, Open Air Theatre

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

    

Margate Sands in Summer

Although not mandatrory to keep on theme for this week's Postcard Friendship Friday, I couldn't resist sharing my only vintage postcard with the word 'Summer' in the caption. The postcard is of Margate in Kent, and the caption simply reads, 'Margate Sands in Summer'. The postcard  is unused so I have no idea about date - I would guess late 1940's or early 1950's, judgiung by the formal atire - they could have almost come straight from church. But what a crowded beach! Not sure I would have liked to have to been squeezed in there. Although I suspect back in those days there was no trouble and everyone was polite and courteous to each other. No loud radios playing and no annoying mobile phone ringtones. My favourite part of the postcard is the man walking, head down, away from the scene ... I wonder what his story is? I suspect he's had enough and is going to try and find somewhere quieter to go.

Margate Sands in Summer

    

More vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcards of war memorials

Following on from Beth's post on Armed Forces Day for Postcard Friendship Friday #54, I have found a handful of war memorial postcards in my collection to continue with the theme.

Folkestone, Kent - War Memorial

Leicester - War Memorial

Brighton, Sussex - War Memorial

Scarborough, Yorkshire - War Memorial

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

A selection of recently acquired artist drawn vintage postcards

I've just acquired another batch of vintage postcards to 'process'. I think I still have a bit of a backlog with the previous batch but there were a few in this latest find which I knew I'd have to share sooner rather than later. Other than the fact that the postcards are all artist drawn, there's no connection or theme. Each postcard has its own appeal, but I think may favourite one is probably the last one, Edinburgh Castle, and in particular the muted colours. I am however struggling with the name of the artist ... it looks like Raeburh but I can't be sure ... does anyone know?

Ightham Mote, Kent (published by J.Salmon from an original watercolour by Essenhigh Corke)

High Bridge, Lincoln (published by J.W.Ruddock from an original water-colour drawing by the artist C.W.Martyn)

Edinburgh Castle from the Grassmarket (by the artist A.Raeburh ???)

As always, 100's more vintage postcards and vintage magazines 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

Sepia Saturday 58 - the Newgate Gap, Cliftonville

I have once again dipped into my still unsorted batch of 200 recent postcard aquisitions and found another which seemed a good choice for Sepia Saturday. It's yet another place I've never been to but looks great from these old postcards. It's the Newgate Gap, in Cliftonville, near Margate, Kent.

Newgate Gap, Cliftonville, c.1938

Newagte Gap, Cliftonville

The second of these postacrds is unused so I cannot tell the date but would assume it's earlier than the first, probably dating back to the 1900's. I was intrigued to see whether it still exists today, and it appears that it does, although the recent photographs I found on the internet don't make it look anywhere near as exciting as it must have looked 100 years ago.

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

Sepia Saturday 56 - Chichester ... oops, I mean Canterbury

This is a very curious vintage postcard. It's actually of Canterbury Cathedral, but the postcard has been printed with the words Chichester Cathedral instead. I probably would not have noticed this mistake myself unless someone had crossed out Chichester and replaced in with Canterbury. And just to double check myself, I searched out a vintage postcard of each and, as you can see, they look very different. The postcard with the erroneous title was printed by Valentine - I wonder how many of these they printed up before they noticed the error? Maybe I have a real rarity here.

Canterbury Cathedral masquerading as Chichester Cathedral

 Canterbury Cathedral

Chichester Cathedral (the real one)

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

 

Sepia landscapes on vintage postcards

This week's Sepia Saturday post features landscapes rather than towns. I always find postcards published by Judges a little 'ordinary' compared to publishers like Raphael Tuck. They sometimes appear to lack depth and focus. Whether this is caused by the production methods at the time or just aging I'm not sure. However, I did select a handful of vintage postcards by Judges to share this week, and these ones seem to have scanned in ok, and infact I think the picture quality may have even been enhanced by the scanning process (or I may be imagining that).

The postcard of Rhossilli is easily may favourite for two reasons. Firstly as I love the view, and secondly I spnet a lot of time their in my youth on family holidays and then later as a student.

Rhossilli, Worm's Head, South Wales, published by Judges, number 12139

East Hill, Hastings, Sussex, Judges postcard, number 59

Whitby evening, Yorkshire, published by Judges, number 12857

Tor Hill, Glastonbury, Somerset, published by Judges, number 18239

As always, 100's of vintage postcards like these, and other assorted vintage items such as books and magazines, can be found on my vintage postcards web site

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 pictorial letter cards

Every so often I've come across vintage pictorial letter cards, but generally they seem to be in fairly poor condition as they are made of much thinner and delicate material than a postcard. However, I found the 2 below in reasonable condition, so have decided to share thm here.

Vintage pictorial letter card of Hythe, Kent, published by Valentine

Inside of Hythe letter card

Vintage, pictorial letter card of Gloucester, published by Frith

Inside of Gloucester letter card

I had planned to scan each picture of the card and document it individually but have run out of time tonight. As always, check out my web site for these and other vintage postcards for sale

Vintage postcards of Tunbridge Wells, Kent

It's always surprising to me when I end up with several vintage postcards of a town in England that I've never visited, and Tunbridge Wells in Kent fits that description for me. Judging by the number of postcards, it's obviously a place that attracted Victorian and Edwardian visitors, although until I find the time to do some research I don't know why. Anyway, here are a handful of vintage postcards of Tunbridge Wells that I thought I'd share.

Toad Rock, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, c.1935

The Pantiles Promenade, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, c.1914, published by H.G.Groves

Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, published by H.G.Groves

Happy Valley, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, c.1912, published by Valentine

Lots more vintage postcards of Kent on my web site.

Vintage postcards of Hythe, Kent, published by Eustace Watkins

Today's vintage postcard selection features a couple of vintage postcards from Hythe, Kent. Both postcards were published by Eustace Watkins of London, and neither one has a number. On both postcards the actual picture is set below the slightly raised border of the card, giving a photo-frame effect.

Parish Church, Hythe

The Grove, Hythe

If you're interested, there are loads more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcards by the artist Charles Flower

Three beautiful, artist drawn, vintage postcards by the artrist Charles E Flower. Postcards were all published by Raphael Tuck.

1. The Baptistery, Canterbury Cathedral, Tuck's oilette, series 7021
2. The Choir, Westminster Abbey, Tuck's oilette, series 7033
3. Entrance to St. James's Palace, Tuck's Aquarette, series 6257

See my web site for loads more Raphael Tuck postcards

Vintage postcards with embossed borders

A couple of vintage postcards today with embossed borders. It's always surprised me how much detail went into making some of these cards. The first is of The Bridge of Sighs, St. John's College, Cambridge. The picture on the card is nice enough, but the embossed green and gold border finishes the card off well. On my version the green border has cracked a little, giving it an almost leather-like look.

The next postcard is of a busy scene around the Pavilion, Ramsgate, Kent, c.1910. Again the picture on the postcard is interesting enough to stand on its own, but the finishing touch of the detailed gold border makes it stand out even more.

More vintage postcards like these on my web site. Feel free to have a look around.