Christmas special: Postcard Stockings galore! - Picture Postcard ...

In essence this
is a tourist’s
view of Wales,
which after all is
part of what picture
postcards
have always
been about. The
author begins
with pageants
and patriotism,
showing Welsh
wizard Lloyd
George before
moving on to
Welsh women
in national costume
and a gen-
erous 19 pages of comic
postcards. Then we travel to
the various parts of Wales
and a succession of touristy
postcards. In truth, the
selection is fairly predictable,
with few examples
of what postcard collectors
call ‘gems’, but then these
are not the cards the general
public might empathise
with or buy a book of. To
the bookshop browser, a
card of Llandudno’s Great
Orme and Happy Valley
would strike a more familiar
chord than a real photographic
animated back
street of downtown Rhyl.
There are postcards of
South Wales industry, but
that is part of outsiders’
perceptions of early 20th
century Wales. Having said
that, it would have been
nice to have found a bit
more information about the
card publishers or artists in
the captions (my pet gripe!).
In all, a pleasant tour of
Wales - but hang on - there
are no cards of rugby or
singing? What’s going on? -
B.L.
* ISBN 978 1 84868 303 7. 96pp.
£12.99. Amberley Publishing,
Cirencester Road, Stroud, Glos
GL6 8PE.
Military photographs and
� Books � how to date them (Neil OBITUARY
Wales in the Golden Age of Picture Postcards (David
Gwynn) sounds a pretty daunting challenge. How to
cover a large country in one 96-page volume and
under 200 postcards? Nevertheless, in this recentlypublished
book from Amberley Publishing, David
has a good stab at putting across Welshness through
the medium of postcards, all in full colour or sepia.
His aim, he says in the introduction, is to “examine
the range of postcards that were sold in Wales in the
early years of the 20th century”.
The NORTH WALES club
enormously enjoyed a talk
from auctioneer David
Rogers-Jones. He focused
on social history and
notable bills (like the 1946
bill for a week’s treatment
and maintenance at Bangor
Hospital, £6-7s-3d) and
confessed himself a ‘nos-
Welshness: the lady and the bridge on
card ref. 31 published by ETW Dennis of
Scarborough. The artist was Warren
Williams
Clubscene extra
NORTH-WEST KENT
enjoyed a talk and
slideshow by Tony Farnham
on ‘The Romance of London’s
River’. He featured
barges, people and places
on the Thames starting
from Shoeburyness and
ending at Sonning. Tony
worked on the sailing
barges when he was a
young man and so has firsthand
knowledge of life for
those working the barges.
CANTERBURY & EAST
KENT’s AGM was an upbeat
affair, with chairman Roger
Stone in optimistic mood,
and all officers returned for
another year. Then guest
speaker Douglas Chapman
gave the club an insight into
lesser-known aspects of
Canterbury Cathedral.
These included the curious
story of murdered Archbishop
Thomas Becket’s
remains.
� Tim Ward of Put The
Clock back postcard fame
launched his latest book at
both Ross-on-Wye and
Presteigne last month. Entitled
Roses around the door?
the book looks at rural
images of Herefordshire
from 1830-1930. Naturally,
postcard images loom large
- of harvesting and hoppicking,
cidermaking and
cattle breeding, blacksmiths,
beekeepers and
basket-makers. Tim has
done painstaking research
to unearth the stories
behind the pictures and also
charts the history of the
agricultural unions.
56 Picture Postcard Monthly December 2009
Storey) is published by
Countryside Books. So
many postcard collectors
look for military cards,
either as a regimental or
war interest, or as part of
family history research,
but find that many photos
of groups or individuals
are uncaptioned or
unidentified. At last a book
has come along that could
save them time and trouble
in unearthing the origins
of some of those frustratingly
anonymous postcards.
The author, a Military
and Social Historian
of 25 years’ experience,
offers advice on how to
identify military uniforms,
ranks, badges, insignia,
medals and equipment,
and because he specifically
covers the period 1870-
1940, the information is
particularly relevant to the
postcard scene. A wealth
of photos, many taken
from postcards, guides
the reader through the
complexities of soldierspotting,
with big sections
on the Edwardian era and
the First World War. Many
are naturally from studio
or army camp photographers,
and fortunately the
participants in these situations
normally showed off
their uniforms proudly
and prominently, to make
identification easier. Neil
Storey’s detailed text
explains the nuances of
dress and insignia in this
very useful publication. -
B.L.
* ISBN 978 1 84674 152 4.
192pp softback, £12.99. Countryside
Books, Highfield
House, 2 Highfield Avenue,
Newbury, Berkshire RG14
5DS.
Special rreader ooffer:
Countryside Books, the publishers,
are offering copies
of MILITARY PHO-
TOGRAPHS & HOW TO
DATE THEM to Picture Postcard
Monthly readers at a
special price of £10.99 - £2
off the cover price of £12.99
- inclusive of postage and
packing.
If you would like a
copy, please print your
name, address and the title
of the book you want clearly
on a sheet of paper and
send it with a cheque
(payable to Countryside
Books) to Picture Postcard
Monthly Offer, Countryside
Books, 2 Highfield Avenue,
Newbury, Berkshire RG14
5DS. Tel: Newbury (01635)
43816 - e-mail address:
info@countrysidebooks.co.
uk
tagia nutter’. Right: investigating the military
with Neil Storey
Ron Linsdell, long-standing
supporter of
Northamptonshire Postcard
Club and a former
mayor of the town, has
died at the age of 80. He
was a councillor for 25
years. Ron worked for a
postcard printing and publishing
firm in Northampton,
and collected postcards
of the town and
county, along with many
other interesting subjects.
John signs off
John Gent, speaker at
CROYDON Postcard Club
last month, told his audience
that he had been giving
talks on local history
and postcard-related subjects
for over 50 years! This
was to be, however, his
final presentation. He
showed over 200 social history
postcards from his
10,000-strong local collection,
including fires and fire
brigades, railways and railway
accidents, buses,
trams, motor and steam
vehicles, portraits, adverts,
comic cards, pubs, cafes,
hotels, military parades,
brass bands, sports groups
and suffragette meetings.
There were also several
cards of Croydon Lifeboat
Day Carnival in 1908 which
attracted thousands of
spectators and included
lifeboats from Eastbourne
and Southend. It was not
clear what would have happened
in either of these two
towns had there been an
emergency at sea!
* A profile of John Gent’s
amazing postcard life
appeared in PPM in April
2006.
�� Nottingham Postcard
Club member John Atherton
won the Gerry Weston
Cup at the annual Military
Historical Society Exhibition
in Farnham with a display of
Royal Marine badges.