Côte d’Emeraude, Rotheneuf, France, ca 1908
It takes a careful look, perhaps even with a magnifying glass, to see all the details on this vintage black & white postcard with a photograph of the sculptured rocks of Rotheneuf in the north west of France. Rotheneuf is located about 5 km or 3.1 miles north-east of Saint-Malo. The card was never mailed but does have a typed note on the reverse.
Typed message on the reverse
Also, note the name of the Parisian printing firm, E. Le Deley is found along the left side on the reverse.
Imprint E. Le Deley Paris, reverse, left side margin
Ernest Louis Désiré le Deley (1859-1917) was a photographer and the founder of the printing firm. This company published heliotype, black-and-white postcards and had a large retail store. They also produced gravure and tinted cards. Heliotype printing involved exposing a gelatin film under a negative, hardening it with chrome alum, and printing directly from it. Photogravure is a process where metal plates or cylinders were etched, inked, and images were then transferred to paper. Tinting involved coloring in the black and white images and reproducing them. After Le Deley died his sons ran the firm until the 1930s when it apparently went bankrupt.
Rothéneuf is a village not far from Saint-Malo in the north west of France. It is a seaside resort most famous for the sculpted rocks shown on the postcard. The sculptor, Abbé Fouré (1839-1910), lived a life as a hermit following a stroke. Differing accounts say that he was either paralyzed on one side or was a deaf mute following the stroke. With the aid of an elderly helper, Fouré carved over 300 faces and figures in the living rock. The images are of pirates, fishermen, smugglers, monsters and other allegorical scenes.
For additional information, see:
https://www.gardenvisit.com/gardens/rochers_sculptes_rotheneuf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roth%C3%A9neuf
https://en.wikidata.org/wiki/Q97593148
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:E._Le_Deley
https://rhcards.co.uk/pclogos/data/ELD/ELD_0.1.html
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gravure
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