Christmas Cheer

Christmas postcards are quite lovely, don't you think? A simple way to reach across the miles...even though we have email and Facebook and Twitter now, there's still something special about sending something in the mail. Equally fun is using fountain pens, but that's another topic as well.

But pens and postcards have one thing in common- they require one to be able to write. Both in the literal and figurative sense, one must be able to put pen to paper and make it happen, then slap a stamp on it and march down to the post box and drop it in. It all shows thought and intention, which is why it means more today than it likely did in 1910, because there seems to be so little time for such genteel arts anymore.

Though really, it is still preferable living with electricity and municipal snow removal and weekly garbage collection even if one has to give up daily use of pen and ink from an inkwell.

 

I think these are supposed to be Highland cattle in the postcard, which reads:

 " To Greet You  - When you hear the belfry's chime/ Think of me this Christmas time / Distance cannot hearts divide/ Joy be yours this Christmastide."

The card's inscription is, "Dear Friends Just a PC to wish you all a Merry Xmas & lucky New Year from G & N Keys"

Paris from the Louvre

This is another postcard without inscription, which means there is no real verifiable date. It is from the 1916 book of Elsie Russell, so one can only assume that they predate the book in which they were kept.

The postcard reads, "Paris. - Panorama de la Cité, vue prise du Louvre. ND. Photo"

A better historian would be able to date this more precisely, but it is still a lovely view...look at all of the trees. Granted, there are more trees here than in the painting 'A View of Paris from the Louvre' by Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont done in 1835...but still. 

There doesn't seem to be a comparable photo from this vantage point showing what it looks like today, so I'll hope there is still some greenery left.

Any ideas about who ND. Phot. might be? Email me!

It's always sunny in Silsden

The Howden Gill is a winding stream in Yorkshire. The only hit on it is from a site called Yorkshire Walks, and it is marked on the postcard "Silsden". Silsden was apparently a very important town, especially in the era of mills, but also boasts the world's largest onion and a 1st century coin hoard.
It is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, so it would seem the place has been there quite a while.

This postcard was written and sent half a decade before the start of the First World War, during the height of the 'Golden Age', and sent to Morecombe, a popular vacationing spot (especially for people living in the North, and Scotland).

The front of the card reads, "Howden Gill Silsden".

                                                                               
The reverse is addressed to "Mr. Russell, c/o Miss Dawson 39 Clarendon Rd Morecombe WC"
and says, " Dear Friends we shall be pleased to see you & will meet the bus, off that train, hope you will have better weather. Yours truly Mrs Tillot."

 Postmarked 19 August, 1909.

Merry (belated) Christmas

If only these could be scanned in a calendar-appropriate order, life would be grand. But that's not how they show up, so they're posted as they appear. The hundred-year-old paper holding them is falling apart, so often they are hanging about in boxes, waiting to be scanned.

This one features the epitome of the Edwardian lady...ostrich plume, extravagant hat (thanks, Lily Elsie!)and wrapped in an ermine scarf and carrying a matching ermine purse. That's a LOT of ermine (which are really quite small while still wearing their own coats).

Puzzlingly, she is holding an umbrella, but that could just be a Canadian view of things: generally, snow here is a little more than an umbrella could handle.

Nonetheless, it's a charming card, worthy of not for the sweeping Beaux Arts font alone.

No inscription or postmark, undated.

The Golden Era

The glowing ease of the "Golden Era", which would come to a crashing end just four years later. A quick postcard about a lovely holiday, and a life of relative ease
.

Though you know, no antibiotics yet, so probably not all that great after all.

 

"Dear Elsie, Edna thanks you very much for your pretty PC [postcard]. Edna is having a happy time. Hoping you are well & enjoying your holidays. Love & kisses from Edna and her mother."

postmarked 19 July, 1910.

Otley from the Chevin

It seemed like a wild guess as to what language the caption was in- originally, "Olley" was in the running, and might have been plausible as it was in France, where a number of other cards are from.
However, the deciphering of "the Chevin" was the key. The Chevin is the name given to the ridge on the south side of Wharfedale in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, overlooking the market town of Otley.
According to the wiki:
"Otley's name is derived from Othe, Otho or Otta, a Saxon personal name and leah, a woodland clearing in Old English. It was recorded as Ottanlege in 972 and Otelai or Othelia in the Domesday Book of 1086.^[2][3] The name Chevin has close parallels to the Welsh term Cefn meaning ridge and may be a survival of the ancient Cumbric language."

At the time of this postcard, Otley would have been mostly mills: wool and paper, with printing being one of the main industries.

Houses of Parliament, London, circa 1910

Not a whole lot to say about  this one. It wasn't addressed or sent, so dating it is kind of a shot in the dark, based on the age of the rest of the collection.


The view is from the Thames, with I think scenic garbage barges(scows?) in the foreground.
Perhaps in Edwardian England, the travel slogan "COME TO LONDON, WE HAVE GARBAGE REMOVAL!" means more than it would today.

Also, not much luck recreating this angle in a more recent photo. What is clear from all of the old postcards is that about 97% of the greenery has been removed. No trees, no shrubs, no flower gardens...all paved over. PROGRESS.

To be fair,  the Palace of Westminster did get the bejeesus bombed out of it a couple of times, was on fire (more than once), and had to be rebuilt...odds are good that changes a place just a little.