More Later

 

I've been putting up a lot of stuff from some of the collections I have, so I decided to go to the oldest unfinished collection I have.  It goes back to 2013, so I'm still working on it 10 years later.  As a rule, I don't bother with the backs of postcards.  I find it easier to just transcribe the written message and spare people from trying to figure out bad to mediocre handwriting.  But in this case, no matter how large I blew up the back of the card, or how much I manipulated the contrast, I just couldn't make out what was written. There's one line that I think says "my girlfriend left yesterday," but other than that, I haven't a clue.  And I thought my handwriting was bad. Anyway, click on "flirtation" in labels to go back to the good old days of 2013.  And I call it that because the guy who sold me the envelope of these postcards said it was his flirtation card collection. Too, if a postcard looks like it was based on a photo it ends up here.  If it looks like it's pure illustration, it ends up on my Fair Use blog. If I'm not sure, it's just a best guess as to which blog. 

Quiet Nooks

Well, it looks like a hand tinted photograph to me.

I've got a number of this style card from The Taylor Art Company, and it seems to me that they send really mixed signals. On one hand, they have a romantic feel to them, but on the other they seem like a confession of cheating.

Written on the back, "April 19, 1909.  from your old sweet heart with love.  A.R. Jr."  Addressed to "Miss Maud M. Billings, No 1 Cleveland St., Hamilton, Maine."  And finally, the postmark, "BANGOR ME. APR 19 11:30 PM '09."  

First of all, why would anyone think that the time on a postmark was important?  Was there a special postal worker whose job was to go around and change the time on all the stamps?  And secondly, this Maud lady shows up on a lot of these cards.  She must have been quite popular.

As usual, click on Flirtation in labels and all that.

One Damn Fool

There was a time, many years ago, when I had beautiful cursive handwriting.  Then, typing entered my life.  At first it was an old Olivetti, which I still have even though it doesn't work, and then it was computer keyboards.  Now my handwriting is a barely readable scrawl.  As a rule, I don't publish the back of cards.  I just type out the message and that's it, but who ever sent this card had bad handwriting without the excuse of years seated at a keyboard, so have at it.

As usual, click on flirtation in labels, yada, yada, yada.

A Lot of Hard Work

I have two of these, both mailed, both with messages.  One is addressed to "Miss H. M. Rafford, Hamilton, Me.  It's postmarked, "OURETTE, MAINE, FEB 2 AM 1909."  And the message, '1/28/09 what do you know about this is this what you wanted? Joe."

The other was sent to the ever popular "Miss Maud M. Billings, No 1. Cleveland St., Hamilton, Maine"  The postmark, "BANGOR ME. APR 17, 09, 1:30 PM"  And the message, "Saturday 17, 09.  Hollo dear, I received your nice letter.  I was very please to hear from you.  I will try and write you a letter Sunday, write whenever you have time, yours with love, A.R. Jr."  And yes A.R. did spell it hollo.

As usual, click on flirtation to see more.

Making Rapid Progress

Well, this card sends mixed messages.  Don't worry darling, just in case things don't work out with you, I've got a backstop. No wonder the Taylor Art Company was so short lived.

This one was mailed to "Miss Maud Billings, 81 Cleveland St., Hamilton, Maine."  And the postmark, "BANGOR ME. APR. 21 6:30 PM '09."  And of course, the all important message, "Bangor, Ap 21, Sister, how is everything up your way? Please write soon. From Sister Mike."

More than a few of the cards in this collection use the word "Sister," and I've always assumed it was a religious greeting rather than a familial one.  I'm thinking Quakers, though I'm sure there are other sects that refer to each other as sister and brother.  The Sister Mike is kind of interesting.  Is that Mike like Michelle, or Mike like Michael Learned or Glen Close?  Perhaps a joke from a close male friend who isn't the boyfriend.

Once again, click on flirtation in labels to see more from this collection.

Sweet Miss Killarney

It's time to return to another collection.  This time, the flirtation postcards, an envelope of early twentieth century cards I purchased, all with a somewhat romantic theme.

I'm always a bit torn when I put up images like this one.  I look at them, and have to make a decision.  Are they based on photographs, or are they pure illustration.  This one was an easy call.  Take a look at the right hand side of the card, and there's a copyright notice, "Photo only copyright 1907.  De Witt C. Wheeler."

There's not a lot on line about Wheeler.  All I was able to find out was that he was American, he specialized in sentimental images for the postcard and magic lantern market, most with added color.  There are a few examples of his work on the George Eastman House website, www.geh.org.  Click on photographers and have a browse.  You'll find his stuff sooner or latter, and while looking, who knows what treasures you'll find.  The main website for Eastman House, a museum endowed by George Eastman, the founder of Kodak, is www.eastmanhouse.org.  It's in Rochester, New York, for those with the time to visit.

As for the rest of it, printed on the back, "Theodor Eisman, Leipzig and New York, Illustrated Song Serie No. 1813/1 By permission of the publishers, Francis, Day & Hunter, New York."  I was able to dig up a bit of info from that.  Theodor Eisman was a card publisher in business from 1908 to 1914.  I wasn't able to confirm my supposition, but I think it's a pretty good bet that a trans-Atlantic postcard company would have been driven out of business by World War 1.  Francis, Day & Hunter, Ltd. was a British publisher of sheet music, with offices in London and New York.  In 1909, they merged with Tin Pan Alley publisher, T. B. Harms, Inc, to become T. B. Harms, Francis, Day & Hunter, Inc.  In 1929 the company was taken over by Warner Bros.  I had hoped to find the lyrics for Sweet Miss Killarney, but, believe it or not, they're not on line.   At least I couldn't find them.

And finally, the card was mailed.  Postmark, "LAKE VIEW, MAINE  JUN 19 2 PM 1908."  It was mailed to "C. W. Ingalls, #5 Cor Main & May Sts., Bangor, Maine"  And the rather short message, "I have not forgot you will write soon. C."

Click on flirtation in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up other cards from the collection.

My Family Tree

The seller referred to them as flirtation postcards, an envelope of fifty plus cards, all with a romantic theme.  Needless to say, I won't be posting them all at once.  The ones that are based on photographs will be here, the one that are pure illustration will be on my Fair Use blog.

This card may be a bit flirty, but the message is not.  "Dear Margret, from Albert."  That's it.  I'm thinking poor Albert didn't do too well with the ladies.  There's a second message added on, "P.S. still looking for that letter, Ida."  Addressed to "Miss Margret Bickford, Abbott Vil., ME, RFD."  For those not country enough, RFD stands for Rural Free Delivery.  Yes, you still had to buy a stamp, but the delivery was subsidized so that postal rates were the same as rates within cities, and, like in a city, delivery was to the home of the intended, rather than just to the local post office.  Postmarked, "BANGOR, MAINE FEB 27, 1911, 12:30 PM"

And finally, this is a Theochrom card.  Theochrom was a trade name for the Theodor Eismann Company of Leipzig, Germany and New York, New York.  They were in business from 1908-1914.