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!

Maison de la Reine

More from Versailles, this time, a postcard featuring 'la Maison de la Reine':

I stumbled upon some great contemporary pictures of this place here.


Another great site to visit is WorldVisit, which gives this description of the Hameau:

The petit hameau was small, a rustic but in essence ersatz farm (or ferme ornee) meant to evoke a peasant village in Normandy, built on the far side of a landscaped pond. Created in 1783, to designs of the Queen's favoured architect, Richard Mique, the hamlet was complete with farmhouse, dairy, and mill.

Here, it was said, the Queen and her attendants would dress as shepherdesses and milkmaids. Particularly docile, hand-picked cows would be cleaned. These cows would be milked by the ladies, with porcelain milk churns painted to imitate wood specially made by the royal porcelain manufacturer at Sèvres. These churns and pails featured the Queen's monogram. The simple and rustic ambiance at the petit hameau has been evoked in paintings by Fragonard; however, inside the farmhouse, the rooms were far from simple, featuring the luxury and comfort to which Marie Antoinette and her ladies were accustomed. Yet, the rooms at the petit hameau allowed for more intimacy than the grand salons at Versailles, or at the Petit Trianon itself. Such model farms operating under principles espoused by the Physiocrats, were fashionable among the French aristocracy at the time, and one primary purpose of the hameau was to add to the ambiance of the Petit Trianon, giving the illusion that the Trianon itself was deep in the countryside rather than within the confines of Versailles.

The garden surroundings of the Petit Trianon, of which the hameau de la Reine is an extension, began their transformation from formal pattern gardens to an informal "natural" garden of winding paths, curving canals and lakes in 1774, under the direction of Antoine Richard, gardener to the Queen. Richard Mique modified the landscape plan to provide vistas of lawn to west and north of the Petit Trianon, encircled by belts of trees. Beyond the lake to the north, the hameau was sited like a garden stage set, initially inspired in its grouping and vernacular building by Dutch and Flemish genre paintings, philosophically influenced by Rousseau's cult of "nature", and reflecting exactly contemporary picturesque garden principles set forth by Claude-Henri Watelet and by ideas of the philosophers, their "radical notions co-opted into innocent forms of pleasure and ingenious decoration" as William Adams has pointed out.

"An uninteresting architectural monument, perhaps, and fancifully restored ... a forerunner of nineteenth-century exposition pavilions and the modern theme park., Betsy Rosasco remarked : "during the Revolution a misogynistic, nationalistic and class-driven polemic swirled around the hameau, which had previously seemed a harmless agglomeration of playhouses in which to act out a Boucher pastorale".

The queen was accused by many of being frivolous, and found herself a target of innuendo, jealousy and gossip throughout her reign. For Marie Antoinette, this farm was an escape from the mounting horror of the real world, although to the French people having a queen that pretended to be a peasant for fun only made her image worse. She reigned supreme in this small area, and even the King only went there at her invitation.

Parc du Petit-Trianon

This postcard comes from Versailles, according to the Wiki:

It was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel by the order of Louis XV for his long-term mistress, Madame de Pompadour, and was constructed between 1762 and 1768. But Madame de Pompadour died four years before its completion, and it was subsequently occupied by her successor, Madame du Barry. Upon his accession to the throne in 1774, the 20-year-old Louis XVI gave the château and its surrounding park to his 19-year-old Queen Marie Antoinette for her exclusive use and enjoyment. Marie longed to escape Louis and his court, and he gave her just the place.

Laiteries
Initially, there were two dairies: the "Preparation Dairy" which produced creams and cheeses, is located near the tower. It was where the milk was skimmed and the butter beaten. In the second dairy, the Queen tasted the dairy products from tables of veined white marble supported by fourteen carved consoles and arranged around the room.
The postcard then, if of the 'Preparation Dairy', since it's located near the Marlborough Tower.
I also found you can buy the image(!) I have posted.

While looking for information about this place, I stumbled upon another card from the Oakville Public Library with the same location, but from the opposite side:

It is about four years older than my postcard, having been sent in 1910...but who knows when the image was taken? They could well be of the same time, just produced as cards on different dates.

Cars

These are posted together, only because they both feature cars relatively prominently.

I have no idea what kind they are, so if anyone has a guess, feel free to post it in comments and the tags can be updated as well.

Postcards reverse reads 'Heliotypie E. Le Deley, 73 Rue Claude-Bernard Paris'.

Resurrection

After a long hiatus, we're back to some posts - and postcards.
Work begins anew with the 'small book', a black book that features mostly European postcards from the time of World War I.
To modern eyes, it seems a bit strange that they are writing and asking about badges while the monstrosity of the 'Great War' rages around them, but I suppose that was how it was.
Many of these do not have inscriptions, and were never mailed. But to restart, I have found one that was addressed and sent from Paris to England October 19th, 1917 (at 16:45, no less!).

The inscription reads (as best I can tell):

"Dear Miss Russell,
Could you send me a Somerset Light Infantry badge? I do hope it's not troubling you too much in asking you that. How do you like this building. It is the theatre where only operas are played.
[sideways inscription]
Hoping to hear from you both soon Believe me dear Miss Russell yours sincerely Inez Geners*.

(*It's my guess at that last name, the writing needs better eyes than mine to decipher it.)