If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 386

Guéret, Prefécture de la Creuse, France, ca 1905

Here is another used vintage postcard shared by my French friend.  The stamp on this card is also found on the picture side of the card at the lower left corner.  The postmark gives the year as 1905 and the name and address of the recipient disregards the divided back and fills the reverse of the card just as it would have be required to do before the backs became divided around the time this card was sent.  There is a number 50 to the left of the title on the picture but no indication of the photographer.

Notice how the address fills the reverse of the card without regard to the dividing line

The black & white photograph on the postcard shows the prefecture or the administration building for this region of France.  During the French Revolution 83 departments were created on 4 March 1790.  Creuse is one of those original departments and was created from the former province of La Marche.  Marche appeared as a separate fief when William III, Duke of Aquitaine, gave it to one of his vassals in the mid 10th century.  Like many other fiefdoms it passed through different hands until Philip IV of France seized it in 1308 and gave it to his youngest son in 1316.  It then passed through the House of Bourbon, the family of Armagnac and back to the Bourbons and seized once again by the king, Francis I, who made it part of the holdings of the French crown. 

This locality in France has rolling hills, steep valleys, and woodlands with oak, ash, chestnut, and hazel nut trees.  Beef cattle and sheep are the main farming.  There are no commercial vineyards in this area.  The River Creuse and its tributaries flow through the region and there are dams at several locations that supply water and also hydroelectric power.  In 1886 the village of Bourganeuf became the third town in France to receive public electricity.   A telephone line was installed at the same as the electricity.

The green Justice and Angels stamp was in use between 1900 and 1924.

Once again, thank you to my friend for sharing the card.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creuse