Moonlight views

Today's vintage postcard blog update features postcards depicting moonlight scenes. I have some others but these three are probably my favourites. The colours on these postcards are really beautiful and almost make you feel like you're really there.

Postcard was published by Boots the Cash Chemists in their Moonlight on the River Series.

Moonlit lake scene, a panel postcard published by C.W.Faulkner

Moon over the Sea, published by Alphalsa, number 521

Check out my vintage postcard website for hundreds more postcards

Pavilions from across the UK

Today's vintage blog post covers the subject of Pavilions. Over the years I seem to have collected quite a few pavilions on postcards, a handful of which I'll share below. From my research it's good to see that many are still in use today, albeit serving different purposes than originally intended ... the concert hall has indeed been replaced by the shopping centre.

De La Warr Pavilion and Colonade, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, c.1956

The De La Warr Pavilion is one of the UK's earliest buildings to be built in the Modernist style. It was commissioned in 1935 by the 9th Earl De La Warr using the architects Serge Chermayeff and Erich Mendelsohn.

The Pavilion by Night, Brighton, Sussex, c.1933

The Pavilion in Brighton, also referred to as the Royal Pavilion, was built at the beginning of the 19th century for George IV, then Prince Regent, and frequented by Regency society

The Pavilion, Victoria Park, Leicester

I think this is the 'original' Leicester Pavilion which was damaged during the war and later reconstructed.

Promenade and Pavilion, Llandudno, Wales

Opened in 1886, surviving until 1994 when it was largely destroyed by vandalism followed by a fire. Originally popular as a Victorian holiday attraction, and later as a venue for political conferences, where allegedly one Margaret Thatcher set her mind on a career in politics.

The Pavilion, Torquay, Devon, c.1914

Opened in 1912 as a concert hall. Concerts were held in the pavilion until 1976. Alas it's now a shopping centre, but at least it's still standing.

The Pavilion, Ramsgate, Kent, c.1910

The Ramsgate Pavilion was opened in 1904 by one of Queen Victoria's daughters. It's now a casino.

The Pier, Bandstand and White Rock, Pavilion, Hastings, Sussex, c.1954

Built in 1927 for concerts and theatre performances. Still in use today.


Check out my web site for these and other vintage postcards

Vintage Postcards - Church Parade

Until this week I thought that the vintage postcard I had of Church Parade in Scarborough, Yorkshire, was simply the name of the road shown on the postcard. However, on finding another postcard of Church Parade, this time from Ilfracombe in Devon, I decided to take a closer look at the postcards. I guess if I'd have spent any meaningful time studying the original postcard in more detail I would probably have realised this, but clearly they are actually of a church parade. Each postcard shows hundreds of people in their "Sunday Best".

Church Parade, Scarborough, Yorkshire, c.1907

Church Parade, Capstone, Ilfracombe, Devon

As always, hundreds of vintage postcards for sale can be found on my web site

Vintage postcards of English counties

It was only recently when my English counties vintage postcards web page was getting too big and I was giving some of the English counties their own web page, that I realised there were a handful of English counties of which I've only ever had only 3 or 4 postcards, and in some cases just 1 or 2. Those where I seem to have the most postcards are Devon, Sussex, London, Yorkshire and Kent, whereas in contrast I have only ever come across 3 or 4 from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire, and as far as I can tell I've only ever had one from Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire. My assumption is that the more prolific counties were those with a tourist or cultural interest, e.g. seaside towns, historic buildings and monuments, etc. So, a rather long-winded introduction, but today's blog entry is dedicated to those counties from which I have only ever found a small number of vintage postcards.

Pavilion, Victoria Park, Leicester, Leicestershire, c.1911 - 1930

Wingrave Church, Buckinghamshire

Bedford, a Peep on the Ouse, c.1904

Nottingham University and lake, c.1956


You'll find hundreds more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcards by the artist E.H.Thompson

As far as vintage postcard artists go, I've always stated that Brian Gerald and A.R.Quinton were probably my favourites. This has probably been influenced by the fact that their postcards were some of the first I came across, and seem to appear reasonably often. I've also liked those I've found by Jotter, Arthur de Brianski and Charles Flowers, but it's only very recently that I've really had much chance to consider the Lakeland Artist, E.H.Thompson. I think I've always has a couple of his postcards, but this week I was fortunate enough to come across three more. Those I have are all "art colour" postcards and published by Valentine, dating to the mid 1940's.

Glencoe, the Scene of the Massacre, published by Valentine, number A677

Thirlmere and Helvellyn, published by Valentine, number A441

Grange Bridge, Borrowdale, published by Valentine, number A611

Kirkstone Pass and Brothers Water, published by Valentine, number A445

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

Vintage postcards - museum sets, c.1925

Today's vintage postcard blog entry covers sets of postcards. I've only recently come across these and don't really know that much about them but thought they were worth sharing. They all seem to date from the mid 1920's, and come in a printed envelope with a descriptive, 4 page insert.

The first on display are from the British Museum and depict precious stones, series number 2, set D4. Postcards all feature drawings by F.R.Mold.

Outer envelope, descriptive insert and 2 postcards: Tourmaline (D23) and Topaz (D21)

Garnet (D24), Opal (D22) and Garnet (D25)

This next set are 12 illustrated postcards in monochrome and colour, from the London Museum of the Stuart Period.

Outer envelope, descriptive insert and 2 postcards: Lady's Costume (F1) and Cromwell's Watch and Bible (F9)

Jewelry (F4), Lambeth Draft (F2), Drinking Vessels (F5) and Needle-work Sampler (F3)

Needle-work Caps (F6), Needle-work Casket (F11), Metropolitan Slip-ware (F8) and Silver-mounted Trumpet (F10)

Inscribed Pewter Beaker (F7) and Glass Drinking Vessels (F12)


The final set, of which I've only included a sample of 2 postcards from the 15 card set, is a set from the British Museum of The English Bible from 1525 to 1611, set 76. Postcards were published by Waterlow and Sons Ltd.

The English Bible, outer envelope, descriptive insert and 2 postcards: (1) Title page of the first printed English Bible, (2) From the Geneva edition of the New Testament

Loads more old and vintage postcards on my 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