Vintage Postcards

Sepia Saturday 253 - gone fishing

2014-11-08T17:25:00.000+00:00

I'm with Alan on this one in that I have also never been a fisherman. I have a friend who is very much in to it to the extent that he has pictures of fish he has caught on his phone, but it's something that has never really caught my imagination. However, I'm staying on theme for this week's Sepia Saturday with a fishing related vintage postcard.

Vintage postcard of someone fishing

Sepia Saturday 224 - gardens

2014-04-20T17:08:00.001+01:00

As the weather is awful here today, I have no desire or feeling of guilt that I should be outside working on my own garden, so do actually have some time to dig out a few vintage postcards for this week's Sepia Saturday. Sadly I have no pictures of watering cans, but I do have plenty of gardens.

Vintage postcard of Valley Gardens, Harrogate, Yorkshire

Vintage postcard of the Great Palm House, Kew Gardens

Vintage postcard of Canbury Gardens, Kingston-on-Thames

Vintage postcard of Bishop's Road Gardens, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

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

Sepia Saturday 223 - multiview vintage postcards

2014-04-14T00:07:00.001+01:00

Only time for a very quick post for this week's Sepia Saturday as I was keen to get outside and make the most of the sunshine. Once again my vintage postcards came to the rescue for the theme, and I've gone with multiview postcards.

Vintage multiview postcard of Bedford

Vintage multiview postcard of Birkenhead

Vintage multiview postcard of Harrogate

Vintage multiview postcard of Ramsgate

100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 220 - vintage postcards of statues

2014-03-23T12:50:00.005+00:00

A quick scour through my vintage postcards helped me out again for this week's Sepia Saturday theme of statues. These are all from London, or its surrounding areas.

First up is a vintage postcard of the Statue of Diana in Bushey Park, Hampton Court. This statue was originally commissioned for Somerset House, but has been in Bushey Park since 1713.

Vintage postcard of the Statue of Diana, Bushey Park, Hampton Court

Easy to miss, but no visit to London's Hyde Park can be considered complete without seeing the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. The author of Peter Pan, J.M.Barrie lived close to the gardens and used them for inspiration.

Vintage postcard of the Peter Pan statue, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, London

Located in Waterloo Place, just off London's Regent Street, is the Crimean War memorial, commemorating the allied forces victory in the Crimean War. The statue is by John Bell and features three guardsmen beneath the allegorical figure, Honour. The statue was made from the bronze cannons captured at the siege of Sevastopol.

Vintage postcard of the Crimean Memorial, Waterloo Place, London

I've not been able to find out anything about this next one - maybe someone out there knows?

Vintage postcard of statue at Mansion House, London

And finally, needing no introduction, is Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London.

Vintage postcard Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

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

Sepia Saturday 219 - vintage postcards of domes

2014-03-15T14:27:00.000+00:00

Once again, it's way too long since I've posted anything on my vintage postcards blog. My energies of late have been steered towards my In Search of Space blog, chronicling my various Urban Wanders around London, and other places, in search of ghost signs, abandonment, decay, etc. However, I found this week's Sepia Saturday theme irresistible, and relatively easy. From the image chosen this week I have selected domes.

Vintage postcard of St. Paul's Cathedral, London

Vintage postcard of the Greenwich Observatory, London

Vintage postcard of Smithfield Market, London

Vintage postcard of the National Gallery, London

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

Sepia Saturday 215 - vintage postcards of Glasgow

2014-02-15T13:07:00.001+00:00

I've been lacking in time and creativity lately so was pleased that this week's Sepia Saturday theme provided me with a straightforward prompt ... Glasgow. Here is a selection of vintage postcards, and if anyone is wondering where my time is being spent lately, check out my In Search of Space blog.

Vintage postcard of Glasgow Cathedral, c.1900's

Vintage postcard of the University, Glasgow, c.1903

Vintage postcard of the Art Galleries, Glasgow

Vintage postcard Glasgow

Vintage postcard of the University, Glasgow

100's of vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 212 - vintage postcard of snow in Jesmond Dene, Newcastle-on-Tyne

2014-01-26T14:28:00.000+00:00

It's been a while since I've managed to find time to post to Sepia Saturday, so hopefully my post today will make up for my weeks of absence. We've not had any snow here in the south of the UK whatsoever this winter, but inspired by Alan's prompt of a skier, I have dug out a snow related vintage postcard.

Vintage postcard of Jesmond Dene, Newcastle-on-Tyne

However, as we have not had any snow, but almost every other season in the past 24 hours, I have also shared some vintage postcards of Jesmond Dene in different seasons.

Vintage postcard of the Stepping Stones, Jesmond Dene, Newcastle-on-Tyne

Vintage postcard of the Stepping Stones, Jesmond Dene, Newcastle-on-Tyne

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

Sepia Saturday 201 - vintage postcards of houses

2013-11-03T19:58:00.001+00:00

Sometimes Sepia Saturday seems to be feast or famine for me. Glad to report that this is a feast week though, and if anything I have too many pictures to choose from for this week's house theme. So to limit them I thought I'd only include a few classics and a couple of variations on the house theme.

Vintage postcard of the Headmaster's House, Bradfield College

Vintage postcard of Charles Dickens' House

Vintage postcard of Register House, Edinburgh

Vintage postcard of St. Giles' House, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset

Vintage postcard of the Old Toll-Bar House, Alfreton

Vintage postcard of the Great Palm House, Kew Gardens

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

Sepia Saturday 199 - vintage postcards of theatres

2013-10-19T21:03:00.001+01:00

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 197 - out of focus

2013-10-05T23:36:00.001+01:00

My out of focus or blurred submission for this week's Sepia Saturday is a vintage postcard of an old lady. The scanning process seems to have enhanced the exposure somewhat, but even so, it's still not looking quite how I imagine the photographer intended.

Vintage postcard of an old lady

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

Sepia Saturday 196 - mother's nurse

2013-09-27T17:33:00.002+01:00

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

Sepia Saturday 195 - Peace

2013-09-20T20:25:00.003+01:00

Again, it's a bit scary how quickly the weeks fly by, but good that it's the weekend. This week's Sepia Saturday had me rummaging through a few old magazines, but eventually I decided, yet again, on old postcards, and the theme of peace.

Vintage postcard, "Let's Have Peace at Any Price"

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

Sepia Saturday 194 - Flags of the League of Nations

2013-09-14T11:37:00.000+01:00

I don't have any pictures of items related to sewing, but I do have flags to contribute to this week's Sepia Saturday. These are cigarette cards given away with John Player cigarettes as part of the Flags of the League of Nations series. The series of 50 cards was published in 1928.

Cigarette cards from the Flags of the League of Nations series, c.1928

Sepia Saturday 193 - alone in a boat

2013-09-06T22:20:00.000+01:00

This week's Sepia Saturday post of a person alone in a boat had me rummaging through my vintage postcards to find something on a similar theme. I ended up being surprised that I actually had a few which fitted the bill.

Vintage postcard of Lake Coomasharen, Glenbeigh, by the artist Ernest Longstaffe

Vintage postcard of Lake Biwa, Japan

Vintage panel postcard of a moonlit lake scene

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

Sepia Saturday 191 - Victorian carte de visite (CDV)

2013-08-24T10:06:00.001+01:00

Is it me or does Saturday come around quicker each week? This is of course a good thing as it means it's the weekend, but also means I have to get my brain engaged in other activity, like coming up with a post for Sepia Saturday. As the prompt says though, there's plenty in this week's post to choose from. My immediate thought was hats, but I did that for my blog post last week, so instead I'm going for facial hair and share a few carte de visite (CDV) that I acquired recently.

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Elliott & Fry, London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Mowls, King's Lynn, Norfolk

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Sinclair & Co., London

Carte de visite of a gentleman, by Chas F Wing, Exeter

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

Sepia Saturday 190 - vintage postcards of Edwardian actresses in hats

2013-08-17T20:02:00.001+01:00

A bit rushed, and a bit late this week, plus I couldn't quite match with the picnic theme for this week's Sepia Saturday but couldn't help notice the magnificent straw hats the ladies in the picture were wearing, so on a hat theme, here are a handful of Edwardian actresses with some pretty fine hats.

Vintage postcard of Miss Gabrielle Ray

Vintage postcard of Miss Gertie Millar

Vintage postcard of Miss Grace Lane

Vintage postcard of Miss Jane May

Vintage postcard of Miss Lillah McCarthy

Vintage postcard of Miss Marie Studholme

Vintage postcard of Miss Phyllis Dare

Vintage postcard of Miss Vesta Tilley

Sepia Saturday 187 - churches

2013-07-23T19:37:00.000+01:00

I don't have anything biblical to share for this week's Sepia Saturday, but I have stayed on the theological theme with some vintage postcards of churches. Rather than go for the more well known churches in big towns and cities, I have instead opted for a few smaller, almost certainly less familiar ones. Admittedly I did not do a huge amount of research for this posting, but something I did discover on my travels through hyperspace, was that John Betjeman had a love of churches as well as trains. I have several of his books on the latter but none on the former - perhaps it's time to put this right.

Vintage postcard of Clayton Church, Sussex, c.1907

Vintage postcard of Culbone Church, Minehead, Somerset

Vintage postcard of Hollington, the Church in the Wood, Sussex

Vintage postcard of Sompting Church, Sussex, c.1917

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

Sepia Saturday 183 - vintage postcards of caves

2013-06-29T09:33:00.002+01:00

Looks as though it's going to be a warm day today, which will make a pleasant change, so I will be off out on my bike shortly, but still time to share some vintage postcards for this week's Sepia Saturday. I actually had quite a few cave postcards to choose from, so have taken one from each location.

Vintage postcard of Reynard's Cave, Dovedale, Derbyshire, published by Raphael Tuck

Vintage postcard of Tilly Whim Caves, Swanage, Dorset

Vintage postcard of the Fairy Grotto, Cheddar Caves, Somerset

Vintage postcard of St. Clements Caves, Hastings, Sussex

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

Sepia Saturday 182 - Summer Solstice

2013-06-21T08:48:00.002+01:00

After doing a quick search for milk, dairy and horse in my postcard list, I found this one below which not only fitted in, admittedly rather loosely, with the theme of horses for this week's Sepia Saturday, but also fits in nicely with the fact that today is the Summer Solstice, and people are congregating around Stonehenge, about 30 miles or so from where we live.

Vintage postcard of Trilithons in Horse Shoe, Stonehenge

And of course, having posted one picture of Stonehenge I thought I should share a second as well to keep it company.

Vintage postcard of the Outer Circle, Stonehenge

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

Sepia Saturday 181 - girls adorned with crowns

2013-06-14T15:10:00.000+01:00

I don't actually have very many pictures of people, let alone pictures of people adorned with jewellery for this week's Sepia Saturday, so this is the closest I can get. Unfortunately I don't know anything about this picture as there's no publisher or location information on the back of the postcard. Maybe one of the Sepia Saturday super-sleuths can help out here ... maybe the crowns and what appear to be drums in the front row help identify this?

Vintage postcard of girls and women in costume

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

Sepia Saturday 180: hospitals

2013-06-08T10:28:00.003+01:00

I was a bit torn for this week's Sepia Saturday as to whether to theme on trains or hospitals but eventually decided on hospitals, as I have blogged on trains several times before.

Vintage postcard of Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot

Vintage postcard of St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol

Vintage postcard of the Hospital Gate, Cirencester Abbey

Vintage postcard of Herriot's Hospital, Edinburgh

Vintage postcard of Greenwich Hospital

And finally, whilst on the hospital theme, here's the Outpatients Entrance of an abandoned hospital somewhere in London, near Russell Square from memory, that I found when I was out Urban Wandering through London a few months ago.

Old hospital, near Russell Square, London

As usual 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and for anyone interesting in my Urban Wandering then pop over to my In Search of Space blog.

Sepia Saturday 179: Gipsies on the Common, c.1911

2013-06-01T22:19:00.004+01:00

I've been out and about today, making the most of our second weekend of summer, with a coastal wander around Lymington so I'll need to keep this week's post short. I'm not so good with the birds, beasts and reptiles which was the main prompt in this week's Sepia Saturday, but I have gone for one of the secondary prompts ... caravans. Interesting that the gypsy way of life was celebrated 100 years ago, whereas it's a rather different story today.

Vintage postcard of Gipsies on the Common, c.1911

Sepia Saturday 178

2013-05-23T22:20:00.001+01:00

I was away last weekend so managed to miss last week's Sepia Saturday, but am here and a bit early this week. Unfortunately I do not seem to have any vintage postcards which show a face close-up, so I've had to go for the full body. Also, unfortunately I don't know much about this pictures either, other than the publisher or studio name. I'm assuming these are just ordinary people as opposed to famous people, although the second one does look a bit familiar. I never realised until I put the two postcards side-by-side that the pose is almost identical, so maybe a standard of the time.

Vintage postcard of man posing for photograph, published by Boklos Studio, Ashington

Vintage postcard of man posing for photograph, published by Gales

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

Sepia Saturday 176 - vintage postcards of old schools

2013-05-12T10:03:00.003+01:00

Hopefully Alan won't give me a detention but am I allowed to indulge myself this week for Sepia Saturday and publish a second post? After submitting my vintage school listings last night, I found some other school related subject matter, this time in my vintage postcards. The first school looks, from the setting, quite idyllic. The second one looks a bit harsh.

Vintage postcard of The Grammar School, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, c.1918

Vintage postcard of College Hall, King's School, Worcester

As usual, 100's more vintage postcards can be found on my web site, and for those of you in search of space, you may like to check out my latest Urban Wanderings over on my In Search of Space blog which has recently seen me drift around the London districts of Shoreditch, King's Cross and Clerkenwell.

Sepia Saturday 174 - vintage postcards of steam ships

2013-04-27T11:31:00.001+01:00

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.