PPM Jul 11 - Picture Postcard Monthly

� Postbag �
Semaphore ‘T’ mystery
publisher
It was good to read the three articles
on these postcards in June
PPM. Particularly wellresearched
was the one by Robin
Whalley, building on the earlier
research of George Webber
which took us a long way forward;
Robin’s analysis of Graber
users, the ‘Smith’ conundrum,
and some 130 retailers in the
1911 census – that alone must
have taken much time to check.
Then the final two articles by
Bob Foulkes, Mike Green and
Rendel Williams cross most of
the (semaphore) t’s by adding the
detail of the B and B logo, and
the evidence of the Kew
Archives on the purchase of
PP&P Co by Sidney Smith in
1916. I am satisfied that this
answers the question of who the
mystery publisher really was –
the Bender brothers and the
Photo Printing and Publishing
Co. I would like to thank all
those who helped in elucidating
this mystery, including Peter
Burgess, Howard Webb and Eric
Britnell, John Gent and others
named by Bob Foulkes. It just
shows how much we can still
find out about these interesting
old picture postcards. It reminds
me of the mystery initials
R.P.P.C., which I identified as
Robert Peel P. Co., of Oxford. An
Oxford Mail reporter doubted
this, and with the Oxford librarian
they ransacked the archives,
and finally found a bundle of his
postcards with clear evidence
that they were printed by Robert
Peel, a descendant of Sir Robert
Peel, the first ‘P.C.’ It is true that
we still do not know the exact
identity of the person who actually
wrote those captions setting
us the initial puzzle, but as Robin
says, like the original fine photographer’s
identity, these are
questions we may never be able
to answer. What we do still have
today are these fine topographical
cards as a legacy so many different
collectors can enjoy.
Silhouettes
I also learned much from this
very interesting article by Alan
Leonard. The Photochrom cards
of George E. Shepheard are generally
signed G.E.S. in a flowing
written form. But the signed
G.A.S. cards, such as the Anzac
Silhouette Series, appear in a
more printed form in a rounded
oblong open at the bottom, with a
scroll below to the left. Did he
have another middle name which
he used as an alternative, for the
drawings look as if they could be
by the same artist, but why did he
vary the initials if so?
Whalebone Arches
Another very illuminating article
by Colin Bullamore, which highlighted
a small collection of
mine. I have a postcard of the
Bass Rock viewed through the
arch on N. Berwick Law, but it
looks much smaller than his view
and is anchored by three or four
supports on either side, and has a
wind direction arrow on top of it.
It is a Photochrom ‘Grano’. A
card of the arch at Kelso frames a
pony and gig, but instead of the
usual pointed top, it appears to
have a third bone across, making
it look much squarer. This is a
J.R.Russell of Edinburgh card.
Finally, I have an A.R. Quinton
water colour postcard no 3501 by
Salmon, ‘View Through Whalebones,
Teignmouth’ looking out
to sea. An inscription can clearly
be seen a third of the way up
on the left hand half, but too far
away to read. Someone visiting
Teignmouth several times in
recent years does not remember
seeing this, so it too may have
rotted away. But once again, picture
postcards preserve the memory.
Limited Edition Reprint of
Early PPC Magazines
The subscribers to the above
reprint must have wondered what
had happened, when I stopped
issuing these volumes a couple
of years or so ago. At first, it was
simply the hard economic conditions
that caused me to postpone
them until times were a bit better.
But sadly these circumstances
have not greatly improved, and
added to this has been the decision
of several people not to continue
as subscribers, plus the
death of Peter Burgess (for
whom I believe we still await a
full obituary). Two years ago I
sold Golden Age Books, but
intended to continue with these
reprints. But now I have to say
that it is no longer feasible or
practical to continue. I am very
sorry to frustrate those still wanting
to have the last few volumes,
and I am myself very disappointed
that I cannot complete the
project. Please accept my sincere
apologies.
Tony Byatt
Malvern
14 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2011
French anti-clerical
postcard
At the risk of being classified
as a total smart alec, I think I
might be able to solve some
of the coded message on this
card, although I won’t claim
to be totally accurate! As it’s
a French card, we’ll have to
remember that the letters of the
alphabet are pronounced differently,
and should be read phonetically.
Good - here we go!
1. ‘3AB’ ‘3’ is ‘Trois’. ‘A’ is ‘ah’,
‘B’ is ‘bay’.
2. ‘OQP’ ‘O’ os ‘oh’, ‘Q’ is ‘coo’
and ‘P’ is ‘Pay’.
3. ‘HIE’ ‘H’ is ‘ash’, ‘I’ is ‘ee’
and ‘E’ is ‘ugh’
4. ‘3QBC’ ‘3’ is ‘Trois’ again,
‘Q’ is ‘coo’, ‘B’ is ‘bay’ and
‘C’ is ‘say’.
So we end up (hopefully!) with:
‘Trois abbés occupés a chier
égalent trois culs baissés’ - three
abbots (clergy) having a crap
equals three lowered arses!
As for the cows (one of them is
saying ‘disgusting’), perhaps
their faces are caricatures of
politicians who were anti-clerical.
Maybe the priests also represent
prominent churchmen. I will
now leave you to get on with
your life.....
Bob Paterson
Newbury
(with extra information included
from James Dalgety and
Douglas D’Enno)
Two new ARQs ?
I have recently aquired a couple
of ARQs which do not correspond
to the Wayne Robbins catalogue.
I'm interested to hear
from ARQ collectors if these are
really ‘new’ or merely errors in
the original catalogue publication.
If new, how should they be
priced?
1) *1922 Princes Parade Gardens,
Bridlington.
The catalogue shows all variants
of this design as 1921 numbers
2) *2998 Welford on Avon
The catalogue shows all variants
of this number to be Cropthorne,
Worcestershire.
Meantime, I'll keep looking for
more oddballs!
Mike Clark
Cologne
Contributors and advertisers
are advised that the
August 2011 edition of
PICTURE POSTCARD
MONTHLY will be published
on July 21st. Deadline
for copy is July 10th.