Traditional costume

Here is a young lady in Breton costume taken at the turn of the 20th century. You can see more detail if you click on the image. The daffodils on the skirt caught my eye, was her skirt black or dark green? As well as the lace on her ‘coiffe’(bonnet), the edge of her shawl is interesting. This card makes me think of peace and tranquillity.

Who's that girl?

A little before October 1909 a photographer set out to take a picture of the ‘Grand Hôtel du Parc’. Some passers by were caught on camera including a pretty young lady. She was pretty enough to turn the head of a young man and make him smile( seen with a powerful magnifying glass).



What happened next?

Emile Loubet

Emile Loubet was president of France from 1899 to 1906. It wasn’t until I scanned this postcard, sent in 1905, that I realised that the lines were in fact writing which tell us something of his life. Click on the images to get a better view..

Happy days

These postcards were sold in 1939, just before the war. They were sold for 1 franc each in aid of the National Committee for Summer Camps in France. From what I can find out there were guest illustrators every year who produced a set of cards. These were painted by Georges Redon. He seems to have illustrated quite a few postcards and various posters etc., but there doesn’t seem to be anything written about his life.

Spring flowers

This afternoon I prepared another group of cards for auction.

First of May

Today is the day on which people offer each other little bunches of Lily-of-the-Valley in order to bring good luck. If you’ve ever been in France on the May 1st you may well have seen it being sold on the streets to passers by. I was offered my Lily-of-the-Valley by the lady who owns the bar restaurant in the village when we called in for a cup of coffee this morning.