If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 588

 

 

 

 

 

New Year greeting postcard, ca 1920s

 

Happy New Year 2023!

 

The two unused postcards shared this week are reproductions of undated artwork reprinted by a small local company, Laughing Elephant.  The card above has clocks and a calendar as the featured items, things that are typically associated with the changing of the year.  The design look like late 1920s or possibly early 1930s style.

 

Greeting cards, individually handmade first, then later commercially printed, have been a tradition for centuries.  In the 1400s homemade greetings were sold and exchanged in Europe.  Early German cards were made using woodcuts.  The two most likely holidays to exchange cards were wishes for a happy, prosperous New Year and romantic love cards for Valentine’s Day.  Valentines often had lace filigrees applied to the designs. 

 

Advances in printing provided a way for cards to be reproduced at less cost and in 1840 the Black Penny stamp allowed cards to be mailed rather than hand delivered and increased the popularity of the cards.

 

Sir Henry Cole, of England, created the first commercial Christmas card in 1843.  Finding that his Christmas greeting list had grown longer each year, Cole wanted to reduce the time and effort it took to make individual cards.  He chose three scenes to celebrate Christmas:  a family gathering; the charitable acts of clothing the poor; and feeding the hungry.  He had 1,000 copies of the cards printed in black and white, then hand painted.  After Cole had used all the cards he needed, he sold the rest at 6 pence each.  Thus, began commercial Christmas card.  In those days the cost of 6 pence still made the cards a luxury item that would not have been affordable for working class people. 

 

This second card is similar to the first one in that it has a verse and the wish for a Happy New Year.  It shows a girl sitting on a list of resolutions and paddling with a quill pen, the ink pot floating in the water just ahead of her. 

 

 

New Year greeting postcard, ca 1920-1930s

 

The practice of making promises or resolutions at the beginning of the year also comes to us from centuries ago.  It was a religious activity for the Romans to make promises to their god, Janus, for whom the month of January takes its name.  Medieval knights took “peacock vows” at the end of the Christmas season to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.  There are parallels in many different religions.  The concept is to reflect on self-improvement annually. To offer and seek forgiveness, or to pledge a personal sacrifice as a way to improve one's self. 

 

The diary of Anne Halkett in 1671, includes what we think of as a traditional writing down of New Years’ resolutions.  She lists a number of religious pledges and writes, “I will not offend anymore.”  In 1813 a Boston newspaper published the phrase:  “new year resolution,” that took hold and has been used ever since.  Despite all the good intentions, roughly only 10 to 12 percent of people who make New Years’ resolutions actually keep them.  The others either forget or do not keep track of them.  Some people say they make too many resolutions to keep track of and work on all of them.  Fortunately, when the next new year comes around we have another opportunity to make resolutions if we so choose. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://www.penheaven.com/blog/history-greetings-cards

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/when-did-new-years-resolutions-start

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution

 

 

 

Update to Thursday postcard, 587 [Christmas]

 

 

 

 

 

A friend recently sent this sheet with an example of how the chromolithogrphy color prints were created.  Each image shows the color on that particular run.  After 5 runs the card has the full color picture.  The printing and cutting would have to be extremely precise in order to achieve the full perfectly colored picture.  

 

 The stamp on the example is French and features Paul Sérusier 1864-1927. It was  issued in 2007, thus the process would not be exactly the same as it was when the Christmas card was sent in 1914, but similar enough to give the viewer an idea of how it was done.  I thought it was interesting and worth sharing.  As always, thank you to my friend who sent the sheet.

 

Sérusier was a French Post-Impressionist painter who was also a pioneer of abstract art.  For other examples of his work and biographical information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S%C3

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 587

 

 

 

 

 

 Christmas postcards, 1914

 

 

Merry Christmas!  This used postcard featuring a winter scene was mailed on 22 December 1914.  The card was printed in Germany but no artist is listed.  As was traditional for the time and type of card there is a poem on the front.  It almost looks like there was a printing error as the “T” in Fleeting is not level with the rest of the text.  The card is either embossed or debossed as there is texture, mostly noticeable on the reverse.  The raised areas can be felt by touch on the front of the card but both raised and depressed areas are visible on the reverse.  In either case the card would have been produced by pressing between two metal plates.  Embossing raises the design and debossing lowers it.  The reverse of the card shown below, has had the color contrast adjusted to better see the raised design. 

 

 

 Christmas postcard, reverse, showing embossing/debossing, 1914

 

Even with postage rates increasing, many people still send Christmas cards and letters.  The first known Christmas card was sent to James I of England and his son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1611.  A commercially produced card was first introduced in 1843.  It was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and designed by John Callott Horsley.  The cards can feature anything from religious themes, to winter scenes like the one on today’s card, to Santa Claus, elves, snowmen, trees, reindeer, parties, caroling, even shopping and more. 

 

Some cards were hand colored but beginning in the 1880s, when German companies became dominant postcard producers, a process called chromolithography was used for making multi-colored prints.  Several runs would be required to produce multi-colored cards, with one color printed in each run.  Multiple cards were printed on one large sheet and cut or trimmed around the edges.  White borders were added around 1913 to allow some margin of error to the cutting. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

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

https://popthepixel.com/2022/4/29/embossing-debossing-letterpress/

https://worldpostcardday.com/history

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

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 586

 

 

 

 

 

San-Malo, France, ca early 1900s

 

Two Lévy Fils et Cie Paris unused postcards are shared this week.  They both feature photographs of the potato market in Saint Malo, located on the west coast of France.  The cards both have divided backs which were authorized for use in France in 1903.  The trade mark of LL was registered by Léon & Lévy in 1901.  The name Lévy et Fils was used beginning in 1895 by the sons, Abraham Lucien and Gaspard Ernest Lévy sons of the original founder of the company Isaac Lévy who began the business in 1864.  Both cards have the same title:  SAINT-MALO – Le Marché aux Patates, -- LL [Saint-Malo, the Potato Market – LL], but different numbers.  The card above is 198.  

 

 

 

 

Saint-Malo, France, ca early 1900s

 

This second card with the number 199 at the lower left corner, shows the potato market from a slightly different angle.  The large building with the white decorative window frames in this card appears to be the same building shown on the upper card at the left edge of the picture.

 

Vintage postcards like these provide a window into history and allow us to see what everyday life and work were like more than 100 years ago.  Although carts and horses are being used instead of trucks to transport the potatoes to market, evidence of modernization can be seen in the telephone poles with their insulators and wires.  Telephones were first introduced in France in 1883; regulations and laws regarding electricity did not come until 1923. 

 

Saint-Malo is a port city in Brittany on the English Channel coast of France.  Originally established in 1 BC by the Gauls, the town was known anciently by the Romans as Reginca or Aletum.  Modern Saint-Malo was formed from a monastic settlement in the sixth century founded by Saint Aaron and Saint Brendan.  The name comes from a man who was a follower of Brendan the Navigator.  In the 1590s the town declared itself an independent republic, “not French, not Breton, but Malouin.”  Today it is a French city.  It became a notorious home of corsairs, French privateers, and pirates.  The long history of piracy netted much wealth from extortion and overseas adventures.  Today it is a popular tourist center with ferry service to the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, also to Portsmouth, Hampshire, and Poole, Dorset.  The resident population is about 50,000 which increases during the tourist season to about 130,000. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Malo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_%26_L%C3%A9vy

https://peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcardhistory.html

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/AUTH234269

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 585

 

 

 

 

 

The Shinkyo Bridge (Sacred Red Bridge), Nikko, Japan, ca early 1900s

 

This unused vintage postcard from Japan likely dates to just after 1904.  It has a divided back which did not become legal until around 1907/1908 in the United States and appeared about that same time within a couple of years in other parts of the world.  This is a black & white photograph that has been tinted and produced as a color postcard.

 

The red bridge is part of the Futarasan Shrine, a Shinto shrine in the city of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.  The bridge design dates back to 1636, but there was a bridge here even before then.  In 1902 the bridge was washed away by floods then rebuilt in 1904 using the 1636 design.  A legend related in the Nikko Station, Nikko Transportation Guide about the bridge concerns a priest named “Shodo Shonin who was traveling in the area with his followers in 766 when they came to the edge of the Daiya-gawa River and were unable to cross it.  The priest dropped to his knees and prayed, then was answered by a gigantic god called Jinja-Daisho who appeared on the opposite bank with two big snakes, one blue and one red, wrapped around his arm.  The god threw the snakes across the river and they were transformed into a rainbow-colored bridge with grass growing on its top.  Shodo Shonin and his followers were able to safely cross after which both the bridge and the god disappeared.”  It is said that a bridge has been built and maintained here since that time.  The bridge is a lacquered vermillion color and is known as of the three most beautiful bridges in Japan.  The bridge was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage in 1999.  It measures 28 m or 91 ft long, 7.4 m or 24 ft wide, and is 10.6 m or 34 ft above the river. 

 

The bridge used to be closed to the general public and only opened for important military leaders and imperial messangers.  Now visitors can walk across it after paying an admission fee.  The bridge is the entryway to the main sightseeing area of central Nikko.  Many people stop and take pictures of the bridge even if they do not walk across it.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://www.nikkostation.com/shinkyo-bridge/

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

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 584

 

 

 

 

 

Tea pluckers, Ceylon, ca early 1900s

 

This vintage postcard has a black & white photograph of a tea field with harvesters at work.  The picture and the card were produced by Plate & Company Photographers of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.  It has a divided back and the number 248 along the left margin on the reverse.  Plate & Co. was founded in 1890 in Colombo, Ceylon by A.W. Plate and still exists today.  The height of postcard popularity was during the years between 1890 and the early 1900s when Plate & Co. was printing postcards.  Arnold Wright edited and published a book in 1907 titled Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon.  In the book he mentions that in 1907 the output of picture postcards by Messrs. Plate & Co.’s had reached half a million cards a year.

 

Ceylon, which became an independent republic and renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, is one of the largest tea-producing countries in the world.  The process of tea cultivation requires meticulous care, and is very hard manual labor.  There has been a movement to protect the rights of tea plantation workers, some of whom include children.  The workers often are barefoot and pick tea for hours.  The daily wage is based on the number of leaves they pluck with the worker needing to pick approximately 40 pounds of leaves to earn 700 Sri Lankan rupees or about $4.15.  The workers are primarily Tamils or Tamilar, a group of people who can trace their ancestry to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.  Efforts to improve the conditions and reduce the poverty in which the tea pickers find themselves has accomplished much but there is still more that can be done. 

 

The tea grown in Sri Lanka is known as Ceylon Tea and is considered some of the best in the world.  It is made from the plant Camellia sinensis.  Tea or chá is native to East Asia with plants in Sri Lanka likely originating from the area where southwestern China, Indo-Burma, and Tibet meet.  It is thought that all the current plants in Sri Lanka were derived from the same parent plant.  If left undisturbed, tea plants can grow to about 50 ft or 16 m tall.  As can be seen on the card, the plants are pruned to about waist height to accommodate the picking or plucking process.  Herbal tea refers to drinks not made from Camellia sinensis.  Instead, herbal teas are the infusions of fruits, leaves, or other plant parts like rosehip, chamomile or rooibos.  They are called tisanes or herbal infusions to differentiate from teas from the tea plant.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://borgenproject.org/tea-plantation-workers-in-sr-lanka/

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

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

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Plate_%26_Co,_Photographers_(Ceylon)

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 583

 

 

 

 

 

Originally a children's magazine cover, illustration by Fernande Cowles, ca 1920s

Happy Thanksgiving!  The two cards shared this week are vintage reproductions printed by the local small print shop, Laughing Elephant.  The illustration on the card above is signed Fernande Cowles.  It was originally a cover from a 1920s children’s magazine.  The second card, shown below, was a postcard issued most likely in the 1930s.  The Illustrator did not sign the card.  Note the button-up leggings, warm clothing and the morning glory border.

 

 

 

Originally a holiday themed postcard, ca 1930s

 

Although not all held on the same date, today Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated in some form in several countries including the United States and Canada.  It can be a cultural, secular or even a religious holiday depending on where it is celebrated.  In the United States Thanksgiving is held on the fourth Thursday of November and in Canada it is held on the second Monday.  In North America it began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest.  The English Puritans carried a tradition of thanksgiving with them that had started during the time of Henry VIII, nearly 100 years earlier, when multiple religious holidays were condensed into special days called Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving.

 

Families sometimes add meaning to this holiday by starting traditions of their own.  For example, my son Q and his family started Pie Week several years ago.  Each day during the week of Thanksgiving a variety of pies are baked and eaten.  It is an extended family event with many hands baking and enjoying the results.  In addition to the expected pumpkin, pecan, mincemeat, apple or other sweet pies there might also be savory pies such as chicken pot pies or perhaps a quiche.  Along with pie week they also suggested that each person express a gratitude before devouring the yummy pies. Since this tradition was started when all 8 cousins were very young, this may have kept some small hands out of the pies before it was time for everyone to enjoy them. 

 

The most familiar first Thanksgiving story has a feast held in 1621 by the Pilgrims after the first successful corn harvest, in the village named Plymouth, Massachusetts, by the surviving colonists who had arrived on the Mayflower.  A lesser known, earlier, Thanksgiving was held in 4 December 1619 in Virginia by 38 English settlers who arrived on the ship Margaret by way of the James River.  That landing was celebrated by a religious celebration of thanksgiving with the charter of Virginia stating “that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving…”  The annual commemoration has been held at the present-day Berkeley Plantation since the mid 20^th century. 

 

Thanksgiving has not been celebrated continuously since the 1600s in the United States, nor has it always been on the same day.  In 1789 President George Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving but it was celebrated intermittently.  President Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe Thanksgiving.  During the Civil War, in 1863  President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanksgiving and asked for prayers to heal the wounds of the nation.  In 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Holidays Act making Thanksgiving a federal holiday in Washington D.C. for federal workers.  Congress made Thanksgiving and other federal holidays paid holidays for all federal workers in 1885.  It was under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, and amid controversy the date was moved one week earlier during the years 1939 to 1941.  In 1942 an act of Congress changed the date and since then Thanksgiving has been held on the 4th Thursday of November.   

 

Although the Pilgrims of 1621 may have had turkey and venison, together with crops that they had grown, and food shared by their indigenous neighbors, the meal would have been much simpler than the Thanksgiving meals we have today.  They did not have sugar but may have used honey as sweetener.  No fancy pies though. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

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

https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 582

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aerial view of Kronborg Slot or Castle, Helsingør, Denmark

 

It is always fun to find a postcard from some place where I have visited.  This card with an aerial color photograph view of Kronborg Castle was purchased at a local antique mall.  It is unused and not dated with no credit provided for the photographer.  The card is a product of Repoduktion Hammer Luftart, Copenhagen and has the number 101 at the bottom of the center line on the reverse.  Kronborg Slot has some claim to fame as it is the Danish Prince Hamlet's Elsinore Castle found in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.

 

Located on the extreme northeastern tip of the Danish island Zealand, this castle was important as a coastal fortification at the narrowest point of the sound between Denmark and Sweden and a stronghold for the town of Helsingør.  In the beginning it was a fortress built in the early 1400s by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania.  The king levied Sound dues on all ships entering or leaving the Baltic Sea.  During that time the Kingdom of Denmark extended across both sides of the Øresund.  On what is now part of Sweden stood another fortress castle and with two fortresses and ships guarding the narrow entry it was possible to control all navigation through the Sound.  In 1558-1559 King Christian III added bastions to the curtain wall.  Improvements in military techniques and improved striking power of the artillery resulted in additional extensions and advanced bastions in 1577 by King Frederick II.  The castle itself was then rebuilt during the time between 1574 and 1585.  A fire in 1629 destroyed much of the castle and it was rebuilt and restored by King Christian IV.  The exterior was reconstructed without major changes; however, the interior never completely regained its former glory.  Kings and Queens lived in the castle at one time.  It was also used as a prison from 1739 to the 1900s.  The convicts were sentenced to work on the castle’s fortifications.  In 2000 Krongborg was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. 

 

When we visited here in 1982, we were mainly taking slides and not many snapshots.  Most of the slides remain as slides but I found the two snapshots shared below.  We took a guided tour and saw the cells in the dungeon, went up the stairs to the tower, and viewed many other rooms in the castle.  

 

 

 

Partial exterior view of Kronborg Castle, 1982

 

 

View of the Great Hall, 1982

 

For additional information, see:

 

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

 

 

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 581

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Ball, Williamsburg, Virginia, ca 1970

 

The card shared this week is an Official Colonial Williamsburg Card produced as a Mirro-Krome Card by H.S. Crocker Co., Inc. of San Francisco, California.  H.S. Crocker was an early lithographer and was his company was the first to use offset lithography in printing called photochromes using the name Mirro-Krome.  The card is partly an advertisement for the craft shop.

 

I have visited a few of open air museums:  Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway,  Frilandmuseet (National Museum of Denmark) near Copenhagen, Denmark,  Kirtland, Ohio, Nauvoo, Illinois, Little Norway, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, and closer to home, the Lewis and Clark Historical Park at Clatsop, Oregon and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Vancouver, Washington.  The outdoor museum at Williamsburg, Virginia is one that I would also like to see.  Like the other outdoor museums, this one has docents dressed in period costumes and craftsmen demonstrating how things were made.  The Silversmith pictured on the card is working on a bowl or cup.  The blurb on the reverse of the card:  “At the sign of the Golden Ball, the visitor finds skilled silversmiths fashioning by hand gleaming items of delicate beauty.  In this operating shop one also finds a fine collection of eighteenth-century watches, clocks, and jewelry.  Open to visitors year round without charge.”

 

Silversmiths use a variety of skills to make their products such as cutting and sawing shapes from sterling or fine silver sheet metal or even bar stock and hammering to make forms using anvils and stakes.  Silver is hammered at room temperature to bend and work the metal.  To soften the metal, it is heated.  Work-hardened metal that is not annealed or heated occasionally will crack and weaken the end product.  Silversmiths also use casting to create shapes like knobs, handles or feet for holloware.  These extra pieces are then assembled by soldering and riveting.  Traditionally charcoal or coke fired forges and lung-powered blow pipes were used in the annealing process.  Laser beam welding is a newer method used today.  Silversmiths also work with copper and brass.  Paul Revere is a notable American historical silversmith.

 

For additional information, see: 

 

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

https://www.iexplore.com/destinations/virginia/top-attractions-williamsburg

https://swhplibrary.net/digitalarchive/items/show/10448

Big Four Ice Caves, 2022

 

 

 

 

Big Four Mountain with a dusting of snow

We had not been to the Big Four Ice Caves for a few years.  The trail has been closed because the bridge crossing the Stillaguamish River had washed out and not been repaired.  This is an easy, short hike, with long board walks across wetlands and swamps and a well kept trail in between with a mostly gravel surface.  

 

Boardwalks through swamps and wetlands

Reflections in the small ponds made for pretty pictures

The repaired bridge

 

 

The Stillaguamish River from the new bridge
 

Bob checked to see if the the trail was once again open.  We stopped at the Verlot Ranger Station to make sure the bridge was fixed and to ask if the restrooms at Big Four were open since it is getting late in the hiking season and some of the outhouses are locked until Spring.  We were told that the main restroom at the picnic area had been the victim of an arsonist but the outhouse at the larger lot was open.  There is a nice meadow trail from the larger lot to the picnic area which makes this short hike a little longer.  The round trip hike is a slightly more than 2 miles with a vertical gain of about 300 ft.  Children can easily do this hike and we saw several children there.  The downed trees had all been cut and the trail was in perfect condition.  The day we went it was cold, with some sun and also clouds but no rain or snow.

Fall foliage along the trail, almost to the ice caves

Fall color along the trail and on the hillsides

 

There are small ponds like this one along parts of the boardwalks

There was a lot of fall color on the hillsides and along the trail.  We did not encounter too many people on the way to the caves, maybe because we started early, but by the end of the day there were lots people and dogs.  

 

The big warning sign by the picnic area

A couple of the cracks in the surface of the snow and ice can easily been seen

 

The run off water from above comes down behind the accumulated snow and ice and flows under it melting and creating the cave openings.  This time there were only two openings but sometimes there are three or four openings. 

People wanting to get a closer look or take pictures are also taking a big risk getting this close

Signs warning of the dangers of getting too close to the caves are well posted at the picnic area and near the caves.  Hikers are supposed to stay on the trail but many do not.  Some even venture into the caves.  We stayed on the trail, used zoom lens to take some pictures and could see big cracks in the ice/snow.  That did not stop of lot of people from going off trail and some going inside the caves despite the various warnings. 

 

Total for the day:  105 hikers, 22 dogs.