Fast Turnaround

[santadog99]

Here's a classic example of a fast turnaround by a postcard publisher who's keen to capture local events and get his products out quickly. This is a card by Richard Charles Young (Young & Co) of Teddington, Middlesex, of King George the 5ths proclamation on 9th May 1910. The card has a postal date of May the 11th - only two days after the picture was taken! Mr Young must have taken this picture, then cycled like mad from Kingston to his premises in Teddington High St two miles away and spent the following evening and day printing cards from his negative. I am sure he had an assistant to help him. The next day he would have had to cycle back to Kingston to hawk his postcards to all the vendors in Kingston. Now that is what I call dedication. In his hurry, he painted the wrong date on the negative - 1901 instead of 1910 - its easy to make mistakes when you're writing back to front, and I'm sure he must have been a little agitated to get the pictures out while the story was hot.

Please note - these images are hosted on imageshack - if you cannot see the pictures, try again in a day's time, it seems that their image hosting is a little unpredictable.

[santadog99]

Here's my translation of the message on the back (punctuation added by me):

Dear Denis(?)
I thought you would like one of these cards of the proclamation of the new King at Kingston. I am in amongst the crowd. I remember what a sad event this is to us all. I hope you are all well from Auntie.

[kevinramsdale]

Here's my translation of the message on the back (punctuation added by me):

Dear Denis(?)
I thought you would like one of these cards of the proclamation of the new King at Kingston. I am in amongst the crowd. I remember what a sad event this is to us all. I hope you are all well from Auntie.

In terms of potential sales it would be a case of the bigger the crowd the better at such events, like Auntie they would all be potential buyers. Nice Card.

[davyj]

Thats a really nice card, out of interest can anyone tell me are there any modern time postcard photographers around today ?

[Moonraker]

Here's a classic example of a fast turnaround by a postcard publisher who's keen to capture local events and get his products out quickly...

Such a fast turnaround was not uncommon 100 years ago. I have a few examples of soldiers having their photographs taken as they detrained on Salisbury Plain (usually at Ludgershall Station) and posting postcards home within a day or two.

Moonraker

[davyj]

Here's a classic example of a fast turnaround by a postcard publisher who's keen to capture local events and get his products out quickly...

Such a fast turnaround was not uncommon 100 years ago. I have a few examples of soldiers having their photographs taken as they detrained on Salisbury Plain (usually at Ludgershall Station) and posting postcards home within a day or two.

Moonraker

Hi Moonraker,
Can you show us an example that you have, this really is a fascinating topic, can you imagine the timescale today ?

[Moonraker]

Hi Moonraker,
Can you show us an example that you have, this really is a fascinating topic, can you imagine the timescale today ?[/quote]

Sorry, though it's easy to provide a scan of a PC (which would have only the year on its front) it would take me some time to work through the cards in my albums and removing them to find one with a message saying "Here we are arriving yesterday" though I have noted this sort of thing several times.

If one comes to light whilst this thread is still reasonably current I'll certainly scan it for you.

Moonraker

[reflections]

I can do better than that - train collision at East Croydon 10 July 1909. Photographic postcard by Bender of Croydon posted 8.30 pm at South Norwood same day: "THis is a picture of the smash I referred to this morning".

[212kelvin]

Thats a really nice card, out of interest can anyone tell me are there any modern time postcard photographers around today ?

I actually am an amateur photographer and I just opened a gallery where I sell postcards of my photographs. I'm told I have a great eye for taking pictures. People are always telling me I should sell them as postcards. I found a site that will print postcards even one at a time of my photos. There's no minimum purchase required, order as many or as few as you like. See the postcard collection at http://www.zazzle.com/212kelvin

My photos include the cities of San Francisco and Boston. I like taking urban views and documenting architecture. You'll also find the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the California coast, and some of my digital art. Please have a peek at my postcards and let me know what you think.