Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Today’s postcard is a product of the J Salmon Ltd printing and publishing firm of Kent, England. Sadly, the company that was founded in 1880 and known as the oldest established postcard and calendar publisher in Britain is no longer in existence. The card is unused and has the number code: 1-26-01-61 at the lower left corner on the reverse side. As the title printed on the front of the card says, the photograph is of Shakespeare’s birthplace.
Joseph Salmon was a London bookseller who bought a stationer’s store in 1880 with the idea of establishing a printing business in Kent, England. In 1898 he transferred the control of the company to his son, also named Joseph. Fifth generation brothers, Harry and Charles Salmon, last managed the private family owned and operated company. They stopped printing and sold the remaining stock in 2018 citing that due to changing habits and technology the demand for postcards had dropped. Facebook and Instagram having made postcards all but redundant in a decade.
The logo for J Salmon Ltd is, not surprisingly, a salmon!
Shakespeare’s house has been restored and is now a popular, small museum open to the public managed by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. It is believed that Shakespeare born in 1564 and spent his childhood years here. It would have been considered quite a substantial home for the time but today it is seen as relatively simple. The house was originally divided into two parts to allow Shakespeare’s father, John, to carry out his business as a glove maker and wool dealer from the premises. It is half-timber with wattle and daub on a wooden frame. Local oak and blue-grey stone were used in the construction with the large fireplaces made of brick and stone. The ground level has stone-flagged floors. Rectangular in shape the ground floor had a parlor with fireplace, a large open hearth, and a hallway, cross passage and a room that served as John’s workshop. Upstairs was basically the same configuration with three chambers accessed by a staircase from the hall. At a later date a single-bay house, known as Joan Hart’s Cottage, was built onto the northwest end and a kitchen was added at the rear with a chamber above it.
At the death of his father, William took over the ownership of the house. Since he already owned New Place in Stratford and didn’t need the Henley Street house he leased it out. It was converted into an inn called the Maidenhead and later the Swan and Maidenhead Inn. Shakespeare’s widowed sister, Joan Hart, occupied the small one-bay house that had been added. When William passed away the whole property passed to his daughter, Susanna and from her to her only child, Elizabeth and finally to Thomas Hart the descendant of Joan. The Harts retained ownership until 1806 when it was sold. Once the family line came to an end, the house fell into disrepair until there was an interest in it as Shakespeare’s birthplace. A reconstruction project between 1857 and 1864 removed brickwork that had been placed over the timber framed house to restore the outside to its 16th century state. Flowers and herbs that would have known in Shakespeare’s time have been planted in the walled garden area.
Trivia: Several notable persons, like Isaac Watts, Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, and Thomas Carlyle, who visited the house autographed the walls and windows and some of those remain on the windowpanes. The guest book contains the signatures of Lord Byron, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, John Keats, and William Thackery.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare’s_Birthplace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Salmon_Ltd
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2017/sep/25/postcards-demise-britains-oldest-publisher-industry-death
http://www.jsalmon.com/aboutus.htm
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