Picture Postcard Magic

Posted by Brian Lund on

01 02 03April 1st 2020

Starting today, we’re publishing a daily blog for postcard collectors which we hope you’ll enjoy. They’ll be a mix of features, comment & fun, and we’d love your feedback, either as a facebook comment or by sending stuff we can include in a blog (by email: reflections@postcardcollecting.co.uk). The blogs initially are presented by Brian Lund (today’s is mine!) and John Claydon (he starts tomorrow). With no fairs at the moment, and May’s edition the final PPM (at the moment), I think we all need some communication! Hope you enjoy it all – let us know!

 

A Fishy Story

Ok, we’re starting on April 1st, so we’ve got to go with fish! While in the UK today is associated with ‘playing the fool’, in France they call the day ‘Poisson d’Avril’, and you can find lots of postcards on this subject – one is featured here. As far as I know, no postcards have ever been published here – but I’d be pleased to have someone prove me wrong! The French cards could be part of a fishing postcard collection – and there are plenty of opportunities here. Check out Bamforth comics for cartoons of anglers, look for Canadian fantasy postcards of giant fish, real photographic cards of fishing trawlers or fish packers on the quayside at ports like Scarborough, and artist-drawn cards of fishermen on lakes. We’d love to see any of your ‘fishy’ postcards – you can add them to comments here. In past Picture Postcard Monthlies we featured a selection of April Fool articles, including a character called Percy Symons, who was reputed to be the hired ‘plant’ in the foreground of views!

 

Today’s featured postcards:

  1. Embossed French card of fish on an April 1st holiday outing.
  2. Raphael Tuck card in Oilette series 9195 Irish Jokes from Punch. It was posted at Haslemere in April 1909.
  3. What a cracking card of Brighton! I love embossed bordered postcards. Look out for shell and prawn borders, and, on American cards, alligators (but they’re expensive). This one, published by the London firm of Hartmann, was posted from Brighton in July 1907. Agnes wrote to Bella: “We arrived here quite safe, we have got such a nice room and the weather is lovely. Aunt and I are just going in for mixed bathing, plenty of boys here”.