J. Bowers Photographic Co., London

[yankee]

Hello. My name is Art Sommers. I live in Sacramento, California. I just joined this forum and am posting my first message. Reason I joined was in an attempt to obtain some historical information. I tried web sites, but failed to find one answering my question. My search is for information about the J. Bowers Photographic Company. I collect real photo postcards of a small town in Kansas. Some of the better postcards I have of Kansas were created by J. Bowers of London. Would someone please give me a little history on this company in regards to it's role in creating nice views of towns in Kansas. I believe Bowers also covered other States over here in the U.S. My Kansas postcards are typically postmarked with 1908-1910 dates. Being directed to a web site that provides me an answer to my question would be sufficient - thanks.

[Dave43]

Sorry, no luck with my meagre collection of reference books, they might be in Byatts "Postcard Publishers" if someone has a copy (currently about £60 on Amazon!) or you might try to find them in old London Trade Directories, you should be able to find them online on Leicester University's website, I think.Suggest you try the golden age of postcards, about 1905 but probably you'll only find an address, perhaps a small ad will give more info if they went to the expense of putting one in. Sorry there's not a lot of response on this site but mostly people ask such difficult questions!

[yankee]

This is "Yankee", I have found answer to my own question. The problem was that J. Bowers never had a company in London. He was an American who married a lady from England. He put the "London" address on many of his cards to assume mantel of European sophistication. He ended up putting London, Kansas, and Long Beach on his post cards, depending upon what he thought his buying public might better appreciate. I got this information from a post card guy here in the states who is working on a book of American post card photographers.
If anybody comes across a post card showing a U.K. scene by J. Bowers, I would be interested in acquiring it from you.

[thiophene_guy]

One location you may find marginally helpful:
Some Bowers postcard images can be found at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1032943@N20/
There is also a very tiny list of postcards that are known to exist, in the group discussion.