June 2015
A selection of black and white postcards that I recently purchased in a secondhand shop. It was fun investigating the publishers and places, especially as three of them contain my surname (and probably ancestor), John Bunyan. I particularly like the series by Raphael Tuck & Sons of the Guards Chapel at the bottom of the posting… that and the fact that some of them state and guarantee: ‘This is a real photograph’.
Marcus
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Please click on the photograph for a larger version of the image.
Léon & Lévy (French)
Dunkerque – L’Eglise Saint-Eloi
c. 1901-1920
LL 10 of the theme France
Carte Postale
Léon & Lévy was a French printer and a photograph editing company located in Paris. It was founded in 1864 and specialized in stereoscopic views and picture postcards of locations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The trade mark of the enterprise was “L.L.” (“LL”). The firm was one of the most important postcard editors in France… Léon & Lévy was founded in 1864 by Isaac and his son-in-law Moyse Léon. Isaac was also known as “Georges Lévy” at that time (to increase profits, he is known as J. Lévy, 1833-1913) .
With Levy sons, Abraham Lucien and Gaspard Ernest, the company will resolutely move towards the market of the postcard: the brand “LL” is filed in 1901 – we often confuse it with the signature “L & L” studio Lehnert & Landrock which was created three years later in Tunis: Lévy publishes numerous clichés and uses the same recipes and the same patterns as Lehnert. But Levy became the second largest publisher of postcards in France, producing 40 to 50,000 snapshots.
Léon & Lévy (French)
Paris – Le Palais de Justice – La Façade
c. 1901-1920
LL 802 of the theme France
Levy Fils & Cie, Paris to verso
Carte Postale
Léon & Lévy (French)
Amiens – Le Cathédrale – Vie de Saint-Jean-Baptiste
c. 1901-1920
LL 194 of the theme France
Levy Fils & Cie, Paris to verso
Carte Postale
J. Valentine & Co. Ltd (British, 1825 – 1963)
Inveraray Castle and Duniquaich
Nd
Valentine Series
Lithograph post card
J. Salmon Ltd, Sevenoaks (British, 1880 -)
The Moot Hall, Elstow, Nr. Bedford
After 1912
Salmon Series
Real Photo. Printed in England
Post card
Unknown maker (Danish)
Horsens. Caroline Amelie Lund
Nd
Lithograph post card
Caroline Amalie park is in everyday speech called “The Grove”. The park beautifully connects Horsens Museum and Horsens Art Museum. In the park, you can find the old water tower, designed by the known architect Viggo Norn. In the spring, a colour symphony of crocus sprouts through the grass, and later you can enjoy yourself in the shades of the beeches.
James Valentine, photographer (Scottish, 12 June 1815 – 19 June 1879)
Rosslyn Castle and Chapel
Nd
Lithograph post card
H. Coates, Wisbech (British)
The Derwent and Heights of Abraham, Matlock Bath
Nd
Lithograph post card
The Heights of Abraham, based in Matlock Bath, Peak District, offers stunning views of the surrounding landscape as well as providing a wonderful location for a family day out. The park first opened its gates in 1780 and boasts having the country’s first ‘Alpine Style’ cable car system, which was installed in 1984… The Heights of Abraham was named after the area of Quebec where Major General James P. Wolfe met his end during the Seven Years War, the British victory of which paved the way for the further expansion of the British Empire in Canada.
Originally designed as a Regency style ‘Savage Garden’ the park reflects the thoughts of the day from such as Shelley and Wordsworth, who extolled the virtues of promoting the wonderment of nature and the beauty of the environment. Even 200 years after opening the gates for the first time, many of the routes around the gardens remain as originally intended.
Unknown maker (British)
Bedford. The Bunyan Meeting
Nd
This is a real photograph
Post card
Dallaporte (Portugal)
Batalha – Mosteiro, Fachada das Capelas Imperfeitas [Monastery of Batalha, façade of the Imperfect Chapels]
Nd
Colecçâo passaporte “LOTY”
Photograph, post card
The Monastery of Batalha (Portuguese: Mosteiro da Batalha), literally the Monastery of the Battle, is a Dominican convent in the civil parish of Batalha, in the district of Leiria, in the Centro Region region of Portugal. Originally, and officially known, as the Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory (Portuguese: Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória), it was erected in commemoration of the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota, and would serve as the burial church of the 15th-Century Aviz dynasty of Portuguese royals. It is one of the best and original examples of Late Gothic architecture in Portugal, intermingled with the Manueline style.
F. Frith & Co. Ltd., Reigate (British, 1959 – 1970)
Old Sarum, Chapel Of St Nicholas at angle of Wall, Castle well in foreground
1913
Frith’s series, Negative 65298
Lithograph postcard
Francis Frith (also spelled Frances Frith, 7 October 1822 – 25 February 1898) was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom. Frith was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, attending Quaker schools at Ackworth and Quaker Camp Hill in Birmingham (ca. 1828-1838), before he started in the cutlery business. Leaving in 1850 to start a photographic studio in Liverpool, known as Frith & Hayward. A successful grocer, and later, printer, Frith fostered an interest in photography, becoming a founding member of the Liverpool Photographic Society in 1853. Frith sold his companies in 1855 in order to dedicate himself entirely to photography. He journeyed to the Middle East on three occasions, the first of which was a trip to Egypt in 1856 with very large cameras (16″ x 20″). He used thecollodion process, a major technical achievement in hot and dusty conditions…
When he had finished his travels in the Middle East in 1859, he opened the firm of Francis Frith & Co. in Reigate, Surrey, as the world’s first specialist photographic publisher. In 1860, he married Mary Ann Rosling (sister of Alfred Rosling, the first treasurer of the Photographic Society) and embarked upon a colossal project – to photograph every town and village in the United Kingdom; in particular, notable historical or interesting sights. Initially he took the photographs himself, but as success came, he hired people to help him and set about establishing his postcard company, a firm that became one of the largest photographic studios in the world. Within a few years, over two thousand shops throughout the United Kingdom were selling his postcards.
His family continued the firm, which was finally sold in 1968 and closed in 1970. Following closure of the business, Bill Jay, one of Britain’s first photography historians, identified the archive as being nationally important, and “at risk”. Jay managed to persuade Rothmans, the tobacco company, to purchase the archive to ensure its safety. Frith was re-launched in 1976 as The Francis Frith Collection by John Buck, a Rothmans executive, with the intention of making the Frith photographs available to as wide an audience as possible. In 1977, John Buck bought the archive from Rothmans and has continued to run it as an independent business since that time – trading as The Francis Frith Collection. The company website enables visitors to browse free of charge over 125,000 Frith photographs depicting some 7,000 cities, towns and villages. (Text from Wikipedia)
Photochrom Co. Ltd., Tunbridge Wells, Kent (British)
Ely Cathedral, Choir, East
Nd
Photograph, postcard 3826
Photochrom Co. Ltd., Tunbridge Wells, Kent (British)
Ely Cathedral, Choir, East (verso)
Nd
Photograph, postcard 3826
Léon & Lévy (French)
Carisbrooke Castle – King Charles I Window
c. 1901-1920
LL 18 of the theme Britain
Printed in France
Lithograph post card
Léon & Lévy (French)
Armentières – L’Eglise Saint Roch
c. 1883-1916
LL 13 of the theme France
Levy Fils & Cie, Paris to verso
Carte Postale
According to a brochure published for the centenary of the Saint-Roch church, it was built in the heart of a working-class neighborhood in 1883 and 1884, at the initiative of the Dean Berteloot, who also built the churches of the Sacred Heart (1879) and St. Joseph (1884), in other districts of Armentières workers; the land is given free by the contractor César Debosque-Donte; the construction of the church is financed by a family of textile industrialists, the Cardon; the building is due to the architect Paul Destombes Roubaix, who is also the author of the churches of St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart; Simple originally emergency church, it was erected in parish church from 1886. Devastated in 1916 by the bombings of World War II, it was rebuilt in 1930 on the same plane as that of the original church and within a similar style.
Luigi Grassi, Milano (Italian)
Milano, Facciata della Cattedrale [Facade of Milan Cathedral]
Nd
Cartolina Postale, 07 19042
Lithograph post card
Unknown maker (F.W.H.) (British)
Roof of Chancel, Rosslyn Chapel
Nd
Lithograph post card
L. Roisin, Barcelona (Lucien Édouard Roisin Besnard, Paris, 1876 – Paris or Barcelona, 1943)
Gibraltar – Southport Gate
Nd
Lithograph post card, 53. 425
Edward Lucien Roisin Besnard (L. Roisin) (Paris, 1876 – Paris or Barcelona, 1943) French photographer and editor, based in Barcelone at the end of the First World War. Known in Spain for his trade postcards: La casa de la postal. Thanks to the high production work Roisin, it is possible to see the evolution of Spanish landscapes over thirty years. Most of his work is preserved with historical photographic archives of the Institute of photographic study of Catalogne.
His first Spanish postcards date from 1918. Roisin was not only in Barcelona, as in World War II, much of his family perished and our photographer was accompanied by two of his nephews, who held an important role in the family business and in the fate of the archives. His contract with Toldra finished he chose to remain on Spanish soil, and he acquires a local business in the Rambla de Santa Monica where he founded his magazine “the postal casa.” 7 He specializes in postcards geographical vocation. Accompanied by his nephew, they will make many trips by sharing tasks. Throughout the Spanish peninsula, Edward Lucien Roisin Besnard, with his urban experience, is responsible for photographing cities, shooting of the smallest villages and countryside and delegates to his nephew the task to photograph the inhabitants. The niece meanwhile will sell the cards in the family trade.
The beginning of the second war contributes to damage the health of Lucien Roisin Besnard who returns to France where he died in 1943. At his death, his family will continue to hold the stock until the year 1962. The Roisin work almost disappear even going for a short stay on the shelves of a secondhand store, to finally find refuge in the Institute’s archives Photographic Studies of Catalonia (it will not let less than 30,000 negatives, 77,000 photos or 40,000 postcards). The remaining shots is preserved in the National Archives of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
La casa de la postal
“The house of the postcard” was an eminently famous place whose reputation was well established and which featured prominently in all tourist guides. Roisin sold hundreds of thousands of postcards drawn from the photographs taken during his long wanderings through all Spain (Catalonia, Pontemeude, Andalusia, Malaga) and over a period of more than twenty years. Roisin boasted to offer the public a comprehensive view, a complete inventory of sites and places of interest in all the Spanish provinces. The business was a success and at certain times over 10 vendors were recruited to deal with the request of a customer as well as local tourism. In the 1930s, “The postal casa”, always at the cutting edge, inaugurated the sale of products completely innovative as flyers accordions who associated a choice of a dozen postcards and gathering views of the same subject taken from different angles. The counterfeiting phenomenon is not new, and to preserve, Roisin was soon appear on its productions, a stamp that guaranteed its customers about the authenticity of the products they were acquiring. The fame of Roisin was such that when a publication was published concerning Spain in the world, it was almost certain that the photographic credit the photo was derived from “the postal casa”. (Text Google translated from the French Wikipedia)
Lilywhite Ltd., (British)
Bunyan’s Door. Elstow Church. Bedford
Nd
Guaranteed Real Photo and British Manufacture
Post card 28A
Unknown maker (British)
Bunyan’s Chair and Prison Door
Nd
Photograph, post card
Unknown maker (Italian)
Milano – Arco della Pace
Nd
Lithograph post card
Porta Sempione (“Simplon Gate”) is a city gate of Milan, Italy. The name “Porta Sempione” is used both to refer to the gate proper and to the surrounding district (“quartiere”), a part of the Zone 1 division (the historic city centre), including the major avenue of Corso Sempione. The gate is marked by a landmark triumphal arch called Arco della Pace (“Arch of Peace”), dating back to the 19th century, but its origins can be traced back to a gate of the Roman walls of Milan.
The Arch of Peace is a monument neoclassical Milan, located in the center of the large area of Piazza Sempione. It was started in 1807 by Luigi Cagnola under the pressure of the town of Milan and of Napoleon. It was completed in 1838. The bronze chariot of Peace is by Abbondio Sangiorgio (1798-1879), the four wins equestrian bronze were made on the model of John Putti (1771-1847) while the marble sculptures are works of most representative neoclassical sculptors present in Milan in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, many of whom trained at the school of Camillo Pacetti (1758-1826); among these, we note the statues of History and Poetry of Louis Purchasing.
F. Frith & Co. Ltd., Reigate (British, 1959 – 1970)
Windsor Castle, Long Walk, Copper Horse
Nd
Frith’s series
Lithograph postcard
The R. A. (Postcards) Ltd., (British)
The Guildhall, Worcester
Nd
The Seal of Excellence Series
This is a Real Photograph
Photograph, post card
Nels (Belgium, 1898 – )
S. A. des Grottes de Han-sur-Lesse et de Rochefort – Le Trophée
[Caves of Han-sur-Lesse and Rochefort – The Trophy]
Nd
Lithograph post card
This publishing house was founded by Edward Nels in 1898. Their goal was to spread geographic knowledge while producing maps, guide books, and photographic and printed souvenirs. They soon became the largest producer of postcards in Belgium, and they also published many cards of the Congo and of Luxembourg. Though they produced a variety of card types, most were as collotypes, many of which were hand colored in a dull pallet. Ernest Thill, who had ben the manager of the firm took over from Nels in 1913 and added his name to the company. In the 1960’s to 1975 they were purchased by a French firm, but they are now publishing postcards under their own name again, though for the most part they are now printed in Italy.
L. Caron (French, editor)
B & G, Lyon (Publisher)
Amiens – Cathedral
Amiens et les environs – Cathédrale dans sous ses détails – Eglises et Châteaux de Picardie
[Amiens and surrounding area – Cathedral detail – Churches and castles of Picardie]
Nd
3000 Vues éditées par L. Caron, photo, a Amiens
3000 views edited by L. Caron, photo, in Amiens
Lithograph post card
The Cairo Postcard Trust (Joseph Max Lichtenstern, Egypt)
Heliopolis – Monument of the first Aviateur (Oseri)
c. 1910
Serie 634
Lithograph post card
Joseph Max Lichtenstern moved to Egypt from Vienna in 1893 and took up permanent residence there in 1897. In 1899 he began publishing postcards under the name, Cairo Postcard Trust, but also issued black & white postcards under his own name. Two years later he teamed up with David Harari to form an importing business. They would also take up the publishing of postcards. Between 1904 and 1908 they seem to have taken on another partner, changing their name to Lichtenstern, Harari & Co., but they continued to use their original name, Lichtenstern & Harari on postcards. After Harari left in 1912 the firm was sold to Max H. Rudman, who had been a publisher from at least 1905. Lichtenstern continued to have some business dealings with Rudman, but after he returned to Vienna in 1914 for a visit, he ended up serving in the Austrian Army for the duration of World War One. There was a continuing relationship between this firm and the Cairo Postcard Trust but the specifics are uncertain.
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, West End (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons was a business started by Raphael Tuck and his wife in Bishopsgate in the City of London on October 1866, selling pictures and greeting cards, and eventually selling postcards, the latter being the most successful. Their business was one of the most well known in the ‘postcard boom’ of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Their contributions left a lasting effect on most of the artistic world. During The Blitz, the company headquarters, Raphael House, was destroyed including the originals for most of their series. The company never fully recovered.
Raphael was married to the former Ernestine Lissner in March 1848. She gave birth to seven children, four boys and three girls, all born in Prussia prior to their migration to England. As the family of seven children grew, the children provided more help to the business. Raphael sent out his sons, Herman, Adolph and Gustave to bring in more business. Herman and Adolph also went on selling trips, and at the end of the day they would check the results of the day’s work. The one with the higher sales would have the bigger egg next morning for breakfast. Three of the four sons participated in the firm established by their father. Their second son, Adolph, was chairman and managing director of Raphael Tuck and Sons, Ltd. until his death on 3 July 1926…
Raphael had received training in graphic arts in his home country; and, although he was not an artist himself, he had a flair for commercial art that prompted his interest in this new field. Upon coming to England, he caught the imagination of the public in such a way that he was able to create a new graphic arts business. He was so successful at it that, according to the The Times, he “opened up a new field of labor for artists, lithographers, engravers, printers, ink and paste board makers, and several other trade classes.”
Tuck’s continued to run very successful postcard competitions through the early 1900s with the focus changing to collectors of Tuck postcards rather than the artists whose work was depicted. The top part of the 1903 Tuck Exchange Register pictured above announces the second of Tuck’s prize competitions which began in 1900. The prize competitions aroused much interest. The first contest winner turned in a collection of 20, 364 cards over the 18-month duration of the contest. The second prize competition winner submitted 25, 239 cards. In 1914 the fourth prize competition was announced. The competitions were a novel and effective marketing technique. (Text from Wikipedia)
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, The Font (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series B
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, South East corner of Nave (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series B
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, The Pulpit (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, Roberts & Kitchener Memorials (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series B, South West Corner
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, Nave Mosaics (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, Credence Table and Pissina (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, S. E. Wall of Sanctuary (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
Raphael Tuck & Sons (British)
The Guard’s Chapel, The East End (front and verso)
Nd
The Guard’s Chapel Series A
Tuck’s Post Card
Art publishers to their majesties the King and Queen and to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales
Carte Postale
Photogravure Postcard
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Filed under: black and white photography, documentary photography, existence, landscape, light, memory, Paris, photographic series, photography, postcards, reality, space, street photography, time, works on paper Tagged: Amiens Cathedral, Amiens et les environs - Cathédrale dans sous ses détails, Amiens Le Cathédrale, Armentières, Armentières L'Eglise Saint Roch, art postcards, B & G, B & G Lyon, Batalha Mosteiro Fachada das Capelas Imperfeitas, Bunyan's Chair and Prison Door, Bunyan's Door, Bunyan's Door Elstow Church, Caroline Amelie Lund, Caves of Han-sur-Lesse, Caves of Han-sur-Lesse and Rochefort - The Trophy, Credence Table and Pissina, Dallaporte, Dallaporte Monastery of Batalha, Dallaporte post card, des Grottes de Han, des Grottes de Han Le Trophée, Duniquaich, Dunkerque, Dunkerque - L'Eglise Saint-Eloi, Edward Lucien Roisin Besnard, Edward Nels, Elstow Church, Ely Cathedral, F. Frith & Co. Ltd, F. Frith & Co. Ltd Old Sarum Chapel Of St Nicholas, F. Frith & Co. Ltd Windsor Castle Long Walk Copper Horse, Facade of Milan Cathedral, Gibraltar Southport Gate, Heliopolis Monument of the first Aviateur, Horsens, Inveraray Castle, Inveraray Castle and Duniquaich, J. Salmon Ltd, J. Salmon Ltd The Moot Hall Elstow, J. Valentine & Co., J. Valentine & Co. Inveraray Castle and Duniquaich, James Valentine, James Valentine Rosslyn Castle and Chapel, Joseph Max Lichtenstern, L'Eglise Saint Roch, L'Eglise Saint-Eloi, L. Caron, L. Caron Amiens - Cathedral, L. Roisin Gibraltar Southport Gate, La casa de la postal, Léon & Lévy, Léon & Lévy Amiens, Léon & Lévy Amiens Le Cathédrale, Léon & Lévy Armentières, Léon & Lévy Armentières L'Eglise Saint Roch, Léon & Lévy Dunkerque, Léon & Lévy Dunkerque L'Eglise Saint-Eloi, Léon & Lévy Paris, Léon & Lévy Paris Le Palais de Justice, Le Palais de Justice, Le Trophée, Lilywhite Ltd., Lilywhite Ltd. Bunyan's Door, Lucien Édouard Roisin Besnard, Luigi Grassi, Luigi Grassi Milano Facciata della Cattedrale, Lyon Amiens Cathedral, Milan The Arch of Peace, Milano Arco della Pace, Milano Facciata della Cattedrale, Monastery of Batalha, Monument of the first Aviateur, Nels, Nels des Grottes de Han-sur-Lesse et de Rochefort, Old Sarum Chapel Of St Nicholas, Photochrom Co. Ltd, Photochrom Co. Ltd Ely Cathedral, photographic postcards, photography, Porta Sempione, postcards, Raphael Tuck & Sons, Raphael Tuck & Sons The Guard's Chapel, Raphael Tuck & Sons The Guard's Chapel The Font, Raphael Tuck & Sons The Guard's Chapel The Pulpit, Raphael Tuck & Sons The Guard's Chapel West End, Roberts & Kitchener Memorials, Roof of Chancel Rosslyn Chapel, Rosslyn Castle and Chapel, Rosslyn Chapel, South East corner of Nave, The Arch of Peace, The Bunyan Meeting, The Cairo Postcard Trust, The Guard's Chapel, The Guard's Chapel Credence Table and Pissina, The Guard's Chapel Roberts & Kitchener Memorials, The Guard's Chapel S. E. Wall of Sanctuary, The Guard's Chapel Series A, The Guard's Chapel Series B, The Guard's Chapel South East corner of Nave, The Guard's Chapel The East End, The Guard's Chapel The Font, The Guard's Chapel The Pulpit, The Guard's Chapel West End, The Guildhall Worcester, The house of the postcard, The Moot Hall Elstow, The R. A. (Postcards) Ltd., The R. A. (Postcards) Ltd. The Guildhall Worcester, The Trophy, this is real photograph, Valentine Series, Valentine Series Inveraray Castle and Duniquaich, Windsor Castle Long Walk Copper Horse