Some things never change

This is a postcard of a house in La Rochelle, our guess is that it was taken 40 to 50 years ago. I won’t say where it is, but if you’ve been there, you’ve probably walked past it.

Rob went out and took a photograph of it yesterday. I wonder what happened to the children.

Eyes

These rather sinister cards tell you who you are according to the colour of your eyes. He we have green, brown/hazel?, grey and black eyes… My eyes are grey so mine hold a secret!

I can't resist a hat

Biana Duhamel was a singer and actress. She was seduced by the Baron de l'Espée, who built her a villa which was little more than a gilded cage to keep her in at his disposal. She left him.

The Rolling Bridge, Saint-Malo

 

 This “Bridge” has always fascinated me. It was pulled by chains along the sea bed on what looks like very fragile legs. I wouldn’t like to have been on it on a stormy day. Here the tide is out so that you can see the entire workings of the bridge which connected Saint-Malo to Saint-Servin from 1873 until 1922. The bridge was closed after being hit by the Norwegian ship, Brawn.

Reminds me of the inventions of W. Heath Robinson

Women at work

Looking at the quality of this postcard, I would say that these women were at work between the wars. Their job was to sort the coal. Can you imagine how dangerous working in a coal mine would have been wearing long dresses or skirts?

Easter and April 1st

It seems that in 1907 Easter and April 1st fell together, hence the fish and the egg.  Happy Easter and I hope that you don't get caught out tomorrow on April Fool's Day.

The Decline

Le Déclin was sculpted by Léopold Steiner around 1895. It was placed overlooking the Père Lechaise cemetery.

I’m afraid that this beautiful, but sad statue seems to have come to a sad end. The detective work has been done here.

Anyone for Ice-cream?

It’s comforting to know that even 100 years ago you could find some refreshment on a hot day. The enlargement shows the word ‘Sorbets’ on the side of the motorized carriage.

Yellow Roses

I looked up the meaning of yellow roses on Wikipedia and they seem to represent a lot of negative emotions: jealousy, infidelity, a broken heart, dying love and extreme betrayal. These roses were sent in 1902. The correspondence is full of news and finishes with affectionate kisses but is not signed.

Bern and Mary Plain: part II

I've written about Bern in Switzerland before. For those who came searching for Mary Plain, this is where she would have lived before the Owl Man came to fetch her. Here is my other post, the comments are especially interesting if you enjoyed the Mary Plain books

This bear is looking at the visitors to the zoo and thinking "What strange people you see in zoos!"

Cookery lesson

Not a postcard but lithography, probably included as a gift within a packet. This is N°. 3: Salt and Pepper… serious question. The colours on Lithographies are always beautiful and stand the test of time. This is the prettiest of 4 that I have to sell as a set. It dates from around 1900 as far as I can tell.

 When I googles the images I found all of these

D’Jelmako le Blondin

D’Jelmako le Blondin (Etienne Blanc 1857 – 1933), was a French Canadian Indian who toured France as a circus performer. He specialized in the high wire. A daring tight rope walker, he died while performing and is buried in the Saint Lazare cemetery, Montpellier, France.

He was also the inverter of the flying torpedo!

Two sides of war

 British troops setting off for the continent.

Prisonners of war.  I imagine that many families would have been pleased to receive this card.  On the back the details of their soldier and the address of the camp he was being held in.

Tom Tits and Chaffinches

I found each of these cards separately and by coincidence when I was looking for something else. They were published by Raphael Tuck and Sons. There are lots more of their cards for you to browse through here

The wreck of the 9th Avenue

I did a double take when I discovered the date of this accident on the elevated railway in Manhattan – September 11th 1905. The account of the accident

The Garden Grill Room

A lovely postcard from the famous postcard publishers; Tuck’s. This one is of The Garden Grill Room at the May Fair Hotel in London. The card has a texture that makes it appear to be an oil painting. It seems that this postcard was quite popular. The May Fair is still there and was recently modernised. Any one for tea?

More of La Belle Jardinière

Another souvenir from La Belle Jardinière. This postcard is around 110 years old and it in perfect condition. I’m not surprised that someone would collect and keep these postcards safe. I’m sure that they would never have imagined that they would remain in such good condition for so long.

 The "La Belle Jardinière" postcards all together.

 Ebay store

Hotel Scribe

Would you believe that the hotel is almost the same today? Only the traffic has changed.

 I expect you’d like to look around it too – you can!
(Scroll down a little - there is a video)

Interesting things to do with postage stamps

Here’s an original postcard. The flowers have been cut out from postage stamps. I can see stamps from the US, Argentina and France. The card was sent in 1923 to announce a wedding on 4th June.

Pierre Loti and his cats

This isn’t just a postcard, it’s a photograph with a postcard back, which makes it quite special. On the back is written that the French author, Pierre Loti, is holding his cat Belkis. Belkis was a white Angora, so it couldn’t have been her. Pamouk was his darker angora cat and at his feet perhaps we can see Moumoutte Blanche. Pierre Loti loved cats and became the honorary president of the French Society for the Protection of Cats in 1908.

He also had visiting cards printed for his cats

Pierre Loti

This is a photograph in the form of a postcard and therefore possibly rare, if not unique. Pierre Loti, a French writer who lived quite close to where we live, sitting on the balcony of a house in Constantinople. This isn’t the first time he’s been involved in our postcard collection. We even managed to find his autograph!

Souvenir de La Belle Jardinière

I think that this card is exquisite! The colours are lovely and the card is in excellent condition. You can read more about La Belle Jardinière here

Edward VII

King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22nd January 1901 (Crowned 9th August 1902), until 6th May 1910. His mother, Queen Victoria, excluded him from political power and so until almost the age of 60, he led a fashionable leisured life. Once King, he modernized the British Home Fleet and army medical services and reorganized the British army. He fostered good relations with other European countries, especially France, but his efforts could not prevent the outbreak of the First World War 4 years after his death. (Information thanks to Wikipedia)

Wikipedia says that he was crowned 9th August 1902, whereas the postcard says June 26th. Which is correct? The coronation was scheduled for 26th June, but the King needed an emergency appendectomy operation and so the coronation was postponed by a few weeks.

Footage of his coronation coach

Without this man my husband would never have existed.

This is the carriage of the King of Norway Haakon VII on a visit to Paris in 1907. His Queen, Maud, was one of Queen Victoria’s many granddaughters.

During World War II, the King refused to co-operate with the Nazis and send all of the young men to labour camps. Amongst those young men was my late father-in-law, who later escaped to Great Britain and joined the Air Force. He met a young lady who was later to become my Mother-in-law...

Don't deliver on Sundays

The more I looked at this postcard the more interesting it became. A souvenir of Belgian stamps from 1905 – but are they real stamps? I’m not sure and I’m not going to scratch at them to find out. Looking at the back of the postcard, it’s clear that the outlines of the stamps are in relief. At the bottom of each stamp is a piece that can be detached, or not, saying “Don’t deliver on Sundays”

Remember Edna Aug?

The Lady with the Cherries. Here she is again and this time I know a little bit more about the actress. She was born in1878 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died at the age of 59 in 1938 in Willow, New York. Her father, Jake Aug, was responsible for reviving Coney Island. Not much I know, but some progress.

This post card was sent in 1904 so she was 26 at the time.

Shrimps for sale

A busy scene as the shrimp catchers sell their wares by the beach.

A La Belle Jardinière

Two postcards from the auction we attended at Bordeaux. These beautiful cards are amongst several that were published by La Belle Jardinière in Paris. Founded in 1824, the store was the first to sell clothing that had been mass produced. This was a revolution at the time and met the needs of the growing middle class. The stores were open until the 1970s when they were taken over.

The postcards really are in excellent condition considering their age. The first features the Opera in Paris and fashions worn around 1815. The second card is of the Belle Jardinière store and clothes worn around the time that the cards were produced 1900. The backs of the postcards are non-divided. Any correspondence would have to be written on the space at the side of the illustrations. In France, postcards were like this until the autumn of 1903.

Globe-Trotters

On the 31 March 1901 the Bulgarian journalist Pierre Bonnef set out with his wife, Georgiza, to walk around the world. The idea of the walk was to meet the people from the countries they passed through. They were armed with papers from the Bulgarian Ministry and the consulates of Great Britain, France and Austria amongst others. They funded their voyage by selling postcards like this one on the way.

 They passed through Bayonne in the South of France on the 14th May 1904. They intended their travels to last for around 15 years. I hope that they arrived home safely before the outbreak of the First World War.

We couldn’t find anything about their journey on the internet so I thought that I would create this little space in their memory. If you have any more information on them, please leave a comment.

A patriotic Easter postcard

Oh you who my heart loves so much 
Be happy, live long!

 Using his best handwriting, sent by a nephew to his uncle (perhaps on the front?) in 1917.

Happy Easter!

Spikehorn Bear Den

I’d be interested if anyone passing can tell me more about the Spikehorn Bear Den in Harrison Mich. From what I’ve found out so far it was a great place to visit. Can anyone date this card for me?


If you want to find something out, ask a Geocacher!

Coronation of Tzar Nicolas II

This is a double postcard from the 1920s reproducing the menu from the coronation of the Tzar Nicolas II in 1896. What did they eat on such a grand occasion?

Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the Fair
Don't tell me the lights are shining
Any place but there
We will dance the "Hoochie-Koochie"
I will be your "Tootsie-Wootsie"
If you will meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the Fair.

I couldn’t leave this one out and yes, the song was written and the postcard produced for the 1904 World's Fair at St Louis.

Hotel Brighton and much more

 A great number of large hotels were built along the broadwalk at Atlantic city in the late 19th century. The Hotel Brighton was one of the many hotels demolished in the 70s and 80s.

This is a postcard that I can get my teeth into. Why is it marked “Private Mailing Card” and what was the act of Congress of May 19 1898?

 The act of congress allowed postcards to be sent in the post at the lower rate of 1c instead of 2c like a letter. “Private Mailing Card” meant that the postcard was produced by a private publisher rather than the United States Postal Service. Many cards were marked “Postal Card – Carte Postale” which meant that they could enter the international system.

 Because the postcard was sent to France in 1901, the stamp is a 2c commemoration stamp,  marked “Fast Express”, worth about $2 today – if you’re lucky!

 Information about the postal system comes from the Smithsonian Institute website

Mountain View Farm

Sometimes we bid for postcards just from viewing the catalogue. It’s risky, but yesterday some cards arrived that we were very pleased with; a collection of postcards from the US. First off is a postcard of Mountain View Farm, Lee, Mass, sent in 1904. The correspondence is interesting as the writer is discussing the postcard itself:

 “I think these are just right & I am going to colour some of them charge more. Don’t you think we should get 5cts for the coloured ones? Thank you so much for giving them to us”

 I’ve tried to find the farm today but I don’t think that it exists anymore.

Here is a link to our ebay store section on postcards from the US and Canada. You can be sure that we’ll be adding more interesting postcards very soon.

The season of the Three Graces

This postcard dates before 1903 and is in very good condition. What beautiful hats, I would have liked to have worn one. Click on the image in order to see the detail of the dresses more clearly.

A village scene

Another little village somewhere in France where the boys play “saute mouton” like all children do.

Saute mouton = leap sheep better known as leap frog in English.

ExposeYourBlog !: Contests !

I’m going to be boring and post this on all of my blogs. As we approach the second birthday of ExposeYourblog!, we’ve re-launched both the surfing and referral contests. All you need to do to win credits surfing is to be amongst the top five surfers of the day. Credits awarded are based on the percentage of blogs surfed, so the more you surf the more you can win – daily and weekly! The referral contest means that you can win credits for referring more members than anyone else daily and weekly. New members must activate their account by surfing and adding their blog. To get links, go to your “Tools” page and click on “My Downline”, scroll down and you’ll find banners and links that you can use to promote ExposeYourBlog!. Or you could write a post about why you enjoy surfing on EYB! and include a link in your post – just like I have.

Don and I are really proud of the blogs on EYB! There are blogs to suit all tastes and you’ll find excellent writing, art and pictures as well as members who interact with each other. We’re building a very special blogging community and hopefully members feel as it EYB! Is being run by real people who care about their members – which is true.

As always Don and I can be contacted via a PM in the forums (don = “Admin”, to contact me “Anji”), via a support ticket or email; forumadmin@exposeyourblog.com . We’d love to hear from you, feedback and ideas are always useful.

Quimperlé

A typical Breton town, probably before the First World War.  Notice that the man is wearing traditional costume.  The shop sells hardware.  Here is more or less the same view today, the shop appears to be boarded up.

The sinking of the Hilda

The night of the 18th November 1905 was a night of snow and storms.  Conditions were so bad that the men on the Grand Jardin lighthouse didn't see or hear that the steamer, Hilda was in distress close by.  They didn't even hear when her engines exploded.

125 men died in the icy waters, they were aged between 12 and 45. There were 6 survivors.  One crewman; Mr Grinter (Greender?) and 5 Johnny Onions.  Young men from Brittany who had crossed to England in July to sell their onions door-to-door and were now returning home.  Their names were Paul-Marie Pen(n), Tanguy Laot, Olivier Caroff, Louis Rozec and Louis Mouster.

Happy Christmas

I hope that you have a Happy Christmas  and New Year.

The Blessing of the Pigs

I thought that this was a fitting follow up to a post about a dog in a Nativity scene.  The title is 'The Blessing of the Pigs (after)'.  'After' is in case you wondered why the priest was heading in the other direction. On Corsica apparently, different villages bless different animals.  Zilia is the village where the pigs are blessed.

Cognac 110 years ago

Four postcards sent in October 1901.  Kept carefully in an album and are still together, in good condition today.

This is what I like to find

A really old postcard in very good condition with a lot of detail.  The card dates before 1903 as it has a non divided back.  It's in very good condition except for the photo-corner marks at the top.  I wonder who did that!

The shop sold bonnets, lingerie, sewing accesories and perfume.  Having a look around online, I discovered that this house, which was built in the 14th century, has always been popular with photographers and I've managed to find out the name of the street it is in.  The house is still there today!

Les Compagnons

These are soldiers from the First World War who were carpenters by trade. They belonged to the Compagnons. The Compagnons still exist today. Taking on apprentices and passing on the skills which are now disappearing. If a monument is being restored you can usually find members of the compagnons working there somewhere.

I think that we forget that men were needed not only to fight, but to cook, mend, build, translate, heal and provide spiritual guidance….. Each had his own role.

Waiting in hope

If you love me openly, send me the green ribbon
If I don’t stir your heart, send me the red ribbon
If you sometimes dare, send me the pink ribbon
If you love me already, send me the blue ribbon
If you want to marry me, send me the white ribbon
If you want to admire me from afar, send me the mauve ribbon
If there is no hope for me, send me the black ribbon
But, if I win your heart, send me the yellow ribbon

I haven’t made any attempt to rhyme like the poem, but that is what the colours mean. The card was never sent, perhaps they didn't dare.

The Appy God Son

After a very interesting auction in Limoges last week, it’s time to start looking at what we bought:

The first American troops arrived in France in June 1917. They were very much appreciated as this postcard illustrated by Xavier sager (1881-1969) shows. “The New Godson” has been well and truly adopted.