If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 634

 

 

 

 

 

Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

These two cards shared today are cards but not postcards.  Both are reproductions by Laughing Elephant, the small local print shop that specializes in preserving and printing vintage illustrations and cards, as both note cards and postcards. 

 

The illustrator named on the top card is Jessie Willcox Smith.  She was an American illustrator during what is called “The Golden Age of American Illustration.”  Her work appeared in books and magazines during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.   Her illustrations appeared in Collier’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, Good House Keeping, Harper’s, and Scribner’s.  She had a long-running Mother Goose series and covers for Good House Keeping from 1917 to 1933.  She also illustrated more than 60 books including Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

 

 

 

Illustration by S. Garre, 1905

 

This second card has “Painting only copyrighted S. Garre 1905” at the lower right corner.   Although I could not find anything about an S. Garre illustrator in 1905, the message is certainly appropriate for today as it is Thanksgiving Day.

 

For additional information, see:

 

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

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/jessie-willcox-smith

https://laughingelephant.com/

 

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