Vintage Postcards

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.

Sepia Saturday 173 - "odd"

2013-04-20T12:32:00.004+01:00

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

2013-04-04T17:52:00.003+01:00

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

2013-04-01T12:45:00.000+01:00

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

2013-03-29T16:16:00.002Z

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

2013-03-23T11:20:00.001Z

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

2013-03-08T18:46:00.001Z

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

Sepia Saturday 166 - vintage postcard of steam packet ship Araguaya

2013-03-02T19:30:00.006Z

Well, it looks like I have not posted on this blog for over a month now. Not quite sure how that happened, maybe I have spent too much time on my vintage magazines blog and my In Search of Space blog, so am making a mental note to do better here. I have no shortage of vintage postcards to share, just it would seem a shortage of time.

So, this week's Sepia Saturday theme of boxes is a tricky one. I've searched long and hard but can't find anything on theme, so I have stretched the theme a little (and perhaps somewhat tenuously). The vintage postcard below is of a Steam packet ship, and I'm afraid that this sort of packet is as close as I can get to a box.

Vintage postcard of the Royal Mail Steam Packet ship, Araguaya

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

Sepia Saturday 161 - Vintage postcard of Edwardian actor Kyrle Bellew

2013-01-25T18:09:00.001Z

I studied this week's Sepia Saturday prompt closely this week but alas could not find anything to stay even remotely on theme, so have decided to go complete off theme this week. I picked up the vintage postcard below in a recent haul just before Christmas. I'd never heard of the actor in question, Mr Kyrle Bellew, but after a quick investigation I found he was quite a character with quite a history. Bellew spent much of his childhood in India before returning to England and joining the Navy where he spent time aboard HMS Conway, before finally turning to acting, where he spent much of his stage career alongside Mrs Brown-Potter (who funnily enough I also have a vintage postcard of ... this was not planned when I started my post).

Vintage postcard of Mr Kyrle Bellew, c.1904

Vintage postcard of Mrs Brown-Potter, c.1904

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

Sepia Saturday 160 - vintage postcards of piers

2013-01-19T14:30:00.002Z

Thanks for the suggestion of piers as an option for this week's Sepia Saturday. I would have been struggling to stay on theme otherwise. Unsurprisingly piers do feature quite frequently on vintage postcards, or any postcards for that matter, so I had quite a few to choose from. These are some of my favourites and they vary from the very basic Eastham pier, to the grand piers of Brighton and Blackpool, and a few that fit in between.

Vintage postcard of Eastham Pier, Lancashire

Vintage postcard of North Pier, Blackpool, Lancashire, c.1938

Vintage postcard of Palace Pier, Brighton, Sussex

Vintage postcard of the pier, Skegness, Lincolnshire

Vintage postcard of Clarence Pier and Esplanade, Southsea, Hampshire

Vintage postcard of the Central Pier, Morecombe, Lancashire, c.1905

Many more vintage postcards can be found in my online shop

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2013-01-18T09:01:00.002Z

I know that snow causes huge problems for many, but I have to confess that I REALLY like it. I worked from home today, the kids did not go to school, and it actually feels a bit like winter at last. I thought as my updates in this blog had not been as regular as I'd have liked this year that I thought I'd do a blog post on vintage postcards featuring snow that don't mention the word Christmas.

Vintage panel postcard of a church in the snow, published by C.W.Faulkner

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

Vintage postcard of snow in the Palace Yard, Gloucester, published by Burrow

Vintage panl postcard of a winter scene, published by C.W.Faulkner

Vintage olio postcard of a winter scene

Vintage postcard of the river in winter, Stratford-on-Avon

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

Sunday Stamps 105 - a new beginning (KGVI Coronation)

2013-01-13T16:28:00.001Z

The obvious stamp for me to share in this week's Sunday Stamps would have been the Penny Black, but having featured one in my previous Sunday Stamps blog post I had to really think about what would be fitting for this week's theme of beginning. I did think perhaps I'd feature some stamps relating to independence but couldn't seem to find them, so instead I decided on a different kind of beginning ... the beginning of the reign of a new monarch in the UK, in this case George VI. The stamp featured below was issued to commemorate his coronation on 12th May 1937.

Coronation of King George VI, 12th May 1937

Sunday Stamps 104 - black stamps

2013-01-06T20:16:00.003Z

I've not managed to participate in Sunday Stamps for a while but will try to make more of an effort in 2013. I suspect my choice of stamps, well the first one of them anyway, for this week's theme of black is not particularly original. My only Penny Black stamp it is pretty battered, but it's still special in its own way.

Penny Black stamp, c.1840, and a £1 stamp from the 1980's

For any recent new recruits to Sunday Stamps, I have to confess that it's vintage postcards that is my main passion, but stamps, being inextricably linked, do of course get a look in every once in a while. If you want to find out more, check out some of the other posts on my vintage postcards blog

Vintage postcards by the artist Elmer Keene

2013-01-01T12:46:00.001Z

A few weeks ago when I shared a vintage Christmas postcard by the artist Elmer Keene, it attracted a fair bit of interest so I promised to dedicate a whole post to him. As with many artists whose work is regularly featured on vintage postcards, Elmer's wok is quite distinctive and relatively easy to spot when flicking through a batch of postcards. The majority of those I have found to date are black and white, with a few being colour, or colour-tinted. Whilst the majority of those I have come across are landscapes, and usually in Scotland, Ireland or the Lake District, I do also have a few of other scenes. Their distinctive appearance probably has a correct name in the world of art, but to me they appear dark, understated and slightly misty. I have quite a few to choose from but have tried to select a batch to share which are both interesting and varied. If this post generates sufficient interest I may do a follow-up post with more Elmer Keene postcards.

Portelet Bay, Jersey, vintage postcard by the artist Elmer Keene

Lower Lake, Killarney, Ireland, vintage postcard by the artist Elmer Keene

Sound of Kenerra, Oban, Scotland, vintage postcard by the artist Elmer Keene

Rough Sea, vintage postcard by the artist Elmer Keene

Tintern Abbey, vintage postcard by the artist Elmer Keene

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

Sepia Saturday 157 - Christmas 2012

2012-12-21T11:43:00.004Z

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

2012-12-16T22:00:00.002Z

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

2012-11-29T21:37:00.001Z

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

2012-11-23T18:21:00.001Z

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

2012-11-22T14:18:00.001Z

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

2012-11-16T22:33:00.002Z

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

2012-11-03T09:55:00.002Z

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

2012-10-28T20:59:00.001Z

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

2012-10-06T17:26:00.001+01:00

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

2012-09-28T18:24:00.002+01:00

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