Think of WhatsApp messages accompanied by fabulous photographs. Not photos of pouting lips or meaningless plates of food, but photographs that capture and preserve history. And thus you have picture postcards from one hundred years ago. Each one becomes an exploration, taking you through quiet graveyards or along disused tram lines. The cemetery along Lightcliffe … Continue reading Getting A Tram To The Cemetery
Category: Vintage Postcards
The Crown, The Bull, And The Griffin
I must have acquired this postcard of Bull Green in Halifax at some stage over the last fifty years. It's almost recent enough, and I'm almost old enough, to make me think I might have bought it new. Whatever its provenance, it hasn't been used, which somehow strips it of half its potential interest. There … Continue reading The Crown, The Bull, And The Griffin
A Faded Version Of A Faded Memory
The provenance of this picture of Commercial Street in Halifax is interesting. It started life as one of the "real photograph" postcards from the golden age of picture postcards in the years leading up to the First World War, Fifty or sixty years later it was republished by the Halifax Courier as part of a … Continue reading A Faded Version Of A Faded Memory
Beware: Fake Views!
Elland From Nab End : Early 20th Century Postcard All sorts of things stand out in this early 20th century postcard of Elland. It's all very clean and colourful - full of pleasant green slopes and bright blue water. The buildings are all neat and tidy. Beware: fake views!
Indelible Rough Sea At Scarborough
A lovely old early twentieth century picture postcard of Scarborough, showing, if nothing else, that extreme weather conditions are not just a twenty-first century phenomenon. I have managed to find a large number of vintage postcard views of rough seas at Scarborough - but not this precise photograph, so dating it is more difficult, especially … Continue reading Indelible Rough Sea At Scarborough
Fowler’s Cards: 5. Knaresborough
"Been boating on this river on which were several couples affected with the "Spring Complaint". The trees were covered with blossom making it an ideal and quiet rendezvous. Should not mind a visit to Silloth. No reply Carlisle. AP" Like any half decent mystery, the more you delve into Great Uncle Fowler's postcard collection, the … Continue reading Fowler’s Cards: 5. Knaresborough
From Novels To Nuptials To Turkey Red Twill
The reverse of this picture postcard of the thoroughly splendid Belle Vue in Halifax contains one of the very earliest examples of an on-line shopping order. “Please get me half a yard of Turkey-red twill” writes Lucy. Belle Vue is a building that many Halifax people of a certain age will be familiar with, as … Continue reading From Novels To Nuptials To Turkey Red Twill
Friendship Abides At Victoria Hospital, Keighley
The 5th of Fowler Beanland’s old picture postcard provides us with a view of the old Keighley Victoria Hospital. The message on the reverse doesn’t advance our understanding of Fowler Beanland all that much, other than to remind us that friendship abides if distance divides. We have reached the fifth of Fowler Beanland’s postcards and … Continue reading Friendship Abides At Victoria Hospital, Keighley
Fowlers’ Cards : This, That, And The Clans Of Scotland
Not all of the vintage postcards in my Great Uncle Fowler Beanland's collection are pictures of northern towns, moors, and glens. Like all collectors, Fowler cast his net wide, and exchanged cards with fellow enthusiasts. This particular card came from Scotland and is one of several in the collection which depict the tartans of the … Continue reading Fowlers’ Cards : This, That, And The Clans Of Scotland
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