WE ARE THE PEOPLE.
POSTCARDS FROM THE COLLECTION OF TOM PHILLIPS (£20)
Published by the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.
This book from 2004 coincided with an exhibition of postcards from this collection which was held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. I was fortunate enough to attend this exhibition and bought this book as a souvenir of my visit.
The book is packed with simple black and white photographic postcards of ordinary people doing mostly ordinary things, but which, when collected together like this, make for a fantastic pictorial social history exhibition. This book could be enjoyed by anyone.
THE WORLD EXISTS TO BE PUT ON A POSTCARD: ARTIST'S POSTCARDS FROM 1960 TO NOW
By
JEREMY COOPER
This book coincided with an exhibition at the British Museum, London (which I got to visit - see the webpages facebook page dated 26/06/2019 for images).
This is about the postcard as a form of art rather than mass produced souvenirs. This is packed with images and is an interesting read about another aspect of postcards, one which is often forgotten about.
POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY -
A 75TH Anniversary Souvenir 1936 - 2011
This is a small 32 page soft-bound booklet which was given away free in 2011 at several stamp shows. Although this mainly gives a lot of interesting historical information about the society it does have an article on the societies conferences and supplies a full list of them up to that date. Special Postcards were issued for many of these conferences (and some have appeared on the webpage) and as a collector of these I found this list to be very useful. This little book is another example of using books to increase your knowledge about a postcard subject.
VINDICATION! - A Postcard History of the Women's Movement
By
IAN McDONALD
I picked this up at a recent Canterbury Postcard & Collectors Fair. I love history books which represent history through the issues of postcards which relate to the theme. This one from 1989 is a great example which is packed with historic information and profusely illustrated with both black and white and colour illustrations.
There is a superb selection of Donald McGill cartoon cards related to the female vote and womens rights (all in colour). The periods of both world wars are covered, but I was also fascinated with the more modern era of the 1980's with a number of cards illustrated and although I have a number of them there were also some I do not. There is a chapter on Mrs Thatcher included, which has two Falkland War postcards illustrated (which I have) and sections on the political 1980's and Greenham Common. A superb book both for the postcard collector and historian.
PICTURE POSTCARD ANNUAL 1992
By
REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE AGE
Another of my recent 99p charity shop buys (see below two books). This one was of particular interest as I have the two modern cards depicted on the cover in my collection. Four well known modern postcard dealers picked their top ten cards of the year - so 40 cards. Out of interest I counted how many I have in my collection and I have just over half of them - 21 of the cards (not bad I thought). There is also a continuation of the London Transport Museum postcards which was a listing started in the 'Collect Modern Postcards' catalogues (issues 1 and 2) which appear elsewhere in this book listing on my webpage.
PICTURE POSTCARD ANNUAL 1984
By
REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE AGE
This was also picked up at the same time as the below book, and was again just 99p. This one is three years latter and the annual has taken up the format which would run through the years.
In this annual they started a listing of the Raphael Tuck postcards (Part 1 - from the 7000's numbers). There also many other articles and useful bits of information as there always was with these issues.
PICTURE POSTCARD ANNUAL 1981
By
REFLECTIONS OF A BYGONE AGE
I picked this up from a charity shop in June 2019 (recently as I type this) for just 99p. Its a very old edition of an annual which ran through to 2018 (there was no 2019 edition although it will return in 2020).
This has some great old articles, including one on Bonzo the dog and the 1914 bombardment of Hartlepool. There is also one titled 'Modern cards in North Wales' which is now of course 38 years old, and which made interesting reading
STANLEY GIBBONS: STAMPS OF THE WORLD 2014
I already have a 2004 set of these (just four books back then) but when I saw these in a charity shop recently (25/09/2018) at just £30 I had to have them.
Most used postcards have stamps on them, afer all that is what the cards are designed for, travel through the postal systems. Therefore some knowledge of the stamps used on your cards is an important factor for collectors. These six books only give you your basic information, but it is a very good start.
09/09/2018
HISTORICAL COSTUMES OF ENGLAND 1066 – 1968
By N. Bradfield
&
ENGLISH COSTUME From the Second Century B.C. to 1972
By Doreen Yarwood
I picked up these books yesterday from a charity shop. They cost me just a few pounds each. Both books are packed with information and illustrations and although much of the earlier information is of no use to me as a postcard collector, the information around the periods from 1890 through to 1968 and 1972 is enormously useful. Many of us like to be able to date our early photographic postcards, and many do not give dating details, just location. So, if people are included in the image you can look at what they are wearing and use this information to date the card. Both these books, alongside one I already own, will help me in the future.
COLLECTING POSTCARDS IN COLOUR 1914 - 1930
By
Valerie Monahan
This was the very first postcard book I ever bought, way back in the very early years of the 1980's. It was the book that taught me about the early days of picture postcards and which set me on the road to collecting like I do today.
This has a superb illustrated section at the back.
THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTMAS CARD
By
George Buday
This may seem like a different topic at first, but this book has an excellent section on the sending of Christmas postcards at the height of the early postcard story. There are also many illustartions of postcards as well. This is a hardbook book which is long out of print and copies are sought after so this is a £20+ book these days.
This is the same book as above, but this is the 2014 updated new release of the book for the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. To be honest this new edition is well worth seeking out as it is a superb updated version with more and different images and a lot more information. I prefer this one over the original.
STANLEY GIBBONS STAMP CATALOGUE - PART 11 - SCANDINAVIA (4TH EDITION)
This was another 50p bargain from a bourse night at my stamp club. For specialised information around early stamps used on my postcards these are a great source of detail and scarcity (a number of other similar catalogues are depicted on another earlier BOOK LIST page).
CHANNEL ISLANDS STAMPS AND POSTAL HISTORY
STANLEY GIBBONS SPECIALISED CATALOGUE
This superb book is a must have for any one who collects the postal history of the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey and their sub islands). This book contains details of the postal stationery post cards issued on the islands which is why I have a copy.
THE COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO POST CARDS (2008)
By
JANE WOOD
This is an American book which consists of pages of multiple black and white images all under thematic headings with values underneath. This obviously leans heavily towards American themes and topic's, like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Indians (Native Americans as they are properly called) and Black History, amongst the other usual topics. If anyone is interested in what is collected in the US and what the value of these cards are then this is worth a look
THE QUEEN'S STAMPS - THE AUTHORISED HISTORY OF THE ROYAL PHILATELIC COLLECTION
By
NICHOLAS COURTNEY
The Queen has an amazing stamp collection, possibly one of the best in the world, if not the best. This book covers the background history of the collection and some of the stories behind their issue. This is a specialist book, and one only for those interested in this specific collection, but it has some interesting images and stories in it.
MAPPING BRITAIN'S LOST BRANCH LINES
By
PAUL ATTERBURY
Some books are a surprising source of postcard images. This book covers a large number of small railway lines and their stations. Every single one of these is depicted via a postcard image which either shows the station itself or a postcard from that location. I found this a great book and a great way of incorporating postcards within a story.
DRAWN INTO WONDERLAND
BRIAN PARTRIDGE
This book was published by the postcard publisher P. H. Topics in a limited numbered edition of just 300 copies. Brian Partridge has produced a wide range of postcard designs, some have appeared on this webpage. When this book was announced I booked my copy immediately. I already knew the publishers and I was also in contact with the artist himself as well. This is now a very scarce book with a strong postcard connection because many of the illustrations within it are from postcard releases.
COLLECT POST OFFICE CARDS
This was the final edition of this catalogue. It contained a PHQ Card listing - a listing of all the postal region postcards - and many other official roayl mail cards (along with the then still popular telephone cards). This is the essential guide to the post office card issues.
STANLEY GIBBONS POSTCARD CATALOGUE 1987 (FIFTH EDITION)
This was the last one I bought (and may have been the last one they issued). The information across the various catalogues remaind basically similar, although there are different check lists in each one which almost makes it worth having them all.
POSTCARDS FROM THE NURSERY
THE ILLUSTRATORS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND POSTCARDS 1900 - 1950
One of the best, and largest (it is a 'Huge' book) books in my collection. It is fully illustrated throughout with colour postcard images. This book deals individually with a large range of different artists and gives a fairly detailed biography for each of them. It is a superb source of information and a book which every collector of children's book artist postcards should have.
COLLECT MODERN POSTCARDS - THIRD EDITION
By
PETE DAVIES
This was a much slimmer edition compared to the previous two releases but it still contained a wealth of new information. This issue is special to me as I am mentioned under the Acknowledgements and thanked for my assistence with the 'Television' section. My copy is also signed and dedicated by Pete who wrote 'Thanks for your help'. This has far fewer illustrations but a wealth of written information.
THE ANZACS IN WORLD WAR 1
ILLUSTRATED IN POSTCARDS AND CIGARETTE CARDS
This is a magazine styled book which was published by the 'Queensland Card Collectors Society Inc'. It was kindly sent to me by an Australian contact. It is a superb full colour pictorial history of the Anzac forces and a brillaint source of information. Another specialist book well worth trying to track down if this is your theme.
THE BOOK OF POSTCARD COLLECTING
By
THOMAS E. RANGE
This is an American book which, naturally enough, was aimed towards American postcard collectors, or more specifically stamp collectors or anyone wanting to start up in the world of postcard collecting. It is a fascinating insight into how postcard collecting was/is done in the US. This book came out in 1980 so it is a bit old now, but has a wide range of images.