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THE WORLD OF TRADING CARDS

GUM GUIDE - 1ST EDITION

By

PAUL HART

This was the first trading card guide catalogue I bought. What has this to do with postcards? Well, not a great deal, but there have been some postcard sized trading cards and some trading/collectible postcard sized cards included with video & DVD releases. This catalogue does cover some of these later items and I used this book to find out details of postcard sized cards which came with the very first video releases of X-Files TV programmes here in the UK. So, here are the three catalogues I have used and if you have any interest in these smaller trading cards then I can recommend all of these catalogues, although this one here, the GUM GUIDE remains my favourite because of its eclectic listings.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NON-SPORT & ENTERTAINMENT TRADING CARDS - Volume 1 (from 1985)

By

NON-SPORT UPDATE

This quite large catalogue is by the American 'Non-Sport Update' magazine publishers, the biggest related magazine in the US for trading cards. This one is a trading cards only catalogue, which is why I prefer the one depicted above which also covers some other material including stickers and some postcards, but if you like trading cards (modern ones about TV and Film etc post 1985) then this is a good book.

THE VINTAGE TRADING CARD PRICE GUIDE (1960 - 1985)

By

TODD FRYE

If you are interested in the older trade card sets (mostly American to be honest for the first years of this collecting trend) then this is your catalogue, but because of the time frame it covers you also need this one for all the original 1970's Star Wars trading cards (I still have my original first series set I collected as a kid). This book is entirely in black and white, but it holds far more information about the cards than the above two issues do, this is because this is the era that most serious collectors are looking at and with some sets and individual cards information can sometimes be scarce, and interesting so the author gives you the story behind the cards release. A superb book for this collecting trend and worth seeking out if this is of interest to you.

VINTAGE POST CARDS OF NEW YORK

In February 2020 I was in New York (just before the pandemic hit the world outside of China). On my last day, just before we flew out I checked out a small book shop I found in the airport and came across this lovely book packed with old postcards of landmarks I had just spent the last few days seeing. This was a great last minute souvenir of what was to become my last foreign holiday for several years.

"PLEASE, LORD, EXCUSE ME A MINUTE WHILE I KICK FIDO!" - THE WORLD OF DONALD McGILL

By

ELFEDA BUCKLAND

Paperback issue (the postcard on the front is my favourite McGill postcard issue)

MORE LOCAL HISTORY BOOKS

We have recently (Noveember 2021) been over to France to clear out my late in-laws house. My father-in-law (Brian) had a nice collection of history books about their (and our) home town area. These books have now been added to my collection and have given me more information about the local postcards related to the themes and the local history of my local view postcards. Each of these books have some postcards included amongst their images .

Depicted here are the books I have now inherited.

SOUTHEND AT WAR

By

DEE GORDON

FRONT-LINE ESSEX

By

MICHAEL FOLEY

Military history for my home county

MORE FRONT-LINE ESSEX

By

MICHAEL FOLEY

Follow up book to the one shown above

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA THEN & NOW

By

KEN CROWE

A nice book which takes old images (many of them from postcards) and depicts them alongside an image taken of the same location in modern times (book published 2011)

SOUTHEND'S PALACES OF THE SILVER SCREEN

By

ROY DILLEY

A very specific topic, the cinemas of my local town. A fascinating book and my father-in-law bought a signed copy from the local Waterstone's book shop (these always have a good local history book selection and are worth a look where ever you are).

Signed page from inside above book (always nice to get a signed copy of any book)

ESSEX HEADLINES

By

STAN JARVIS

A useful book for identifying events for which postcards have been issued but which do not have a lot of information on the postcards themselves. I actually have a postcard from the same train crash depicted on the cover here.

LEIGH-ONB-SEA POSTCARD MEMORIES

By

THE LEIGH SOCIETY

This was published in 2020 and it was the first book I bought after the second UK lockdown ended. Another local area to me and one which I know a lot about, I even have a number of the postcards illustrated in this book.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES - ESSEX

By

HELEN LIVINGSTON

Depicts images from the Francis Frith Collection. Another example of a book from my own area which I can use as a topographical (Views) postcard collector. Clearly, most of my books of this type are from either the more specific location of Southend on Sea (and its nearby local areas of Leigh, Westcliff, Shoeburyness and Thorpe Bay) or the county of Essex (which Southend is in), but I show you these to enable you to see what might be avauilable for your own village, town, city or county. These are always enjoyable and they sell to many people who do not collect postcards, but have a local history interest. Possibly the most popular trype of history book in any local shop.

SOME RONNIE BARKER BOOKS

These are all a bit saucy as they have the theme of exotic and erotic women as their main content, but they all have at least some (some more than others) postcards illustrated. For anyone interested in the saucy cartoons, images and postcards of the late Victorian era into the 1930's then any of these books are worth a look. Now probably not very PC they all remain a fascinating look at the naughtiness of the era's included, especially the opening years of the 20th century

SAUCE

By

RONNIE BARKER

SUGAR AND SPICE

By

RONNIE BARKER

OOH-LA-LA! THE LADIES OF PARIS

By

RONNIE BARKER

PEBBLES ON THE BEACH

By

RONNIE BARKER

This one has a postcard from my home town on the inside front cover (Southend on Sea, Essex).

BRITISH POST OFFICE STATIONERY POST CARDS 1870 - 2007

By

NEIL A. SARGENT

(Published by Neil Sargent)

Another book for my postal stationery post card fascination. This one is superb and all illustrations are in full colour. This has only recently come out (2020) and I have already found much specialised information included which is missing from my Higgins & Gage book for GB cards.

Some pages from this book

I have a specific collection of UK postal stationery post card wrappers, often around complete sets of the cards, so I was pleased to find illustrations of many of these contained within this book (the advertising for this book mentioned the inclusion of these wrapper bands and was partially the reason why I bought a copy)

Another page illustrating the wrapper bands

POSTCARD FROM THE PAST

By

TOM JACKSON

Tom takes old postcards from the 1970's and decades either side and pictures them in this book at one per page with a funny, unusual or just plain weird comment written by the sender in their messge. This makes this a very funny book which I highly recommend.

I have met Tom who has a great postcard podcast which he records from a studio in London. I had the pleasure of being one of his guests and appeared on a podcast released Christmas day 2019

YORK - THE POSTCARD COLLECTION

By

PAUL CHRYSTAL

Another of these which I pick up on my travels as souvenirs, and they are also nice to look through and see how areas have changed.

SOMERSET THROUGH TIME

By

STEVE WALLIS

I have quite a collection of these 'Then & Now' comparison books from all around the country. I find it is always worth checking out branches of the cheap book store 'THE WORKS', where I find many of these.

LINCOLN IN OLD POSTCARDS

By

EAST COAST BOOKS (2006)

I visited Whitby in Yorkshire a month or so ago and picked up this great little book, and the one below, for just 99p each. If I am visiting an area I like to try and find at least one book like this.

BRIDLINGTON IN OLD POSTCARDS

By

EAST COAST BOOKS (2006)

This was 99p and as I had visited Bridlington for the first time in my life just a couple of days before finding this I had to have it

SPECIALISED STAMP CATALOGUE OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS AND DEPENDENCIES

INCLUDING POSTAL HISTORY AND CANCELLATIONS 1800 - 1996

By

STEFAN HEIJTZ

There is no better catalogue for philatelic information about this area. I bought my copy for its information about flight cachets to and from the islands in the decade before the 1982 war, although there is also a small chapter on the material related to the war as well. If you collect the Falkland Islands stamps, postcards, covers or any other philatelic material you need one of these catalogues.

CONSTABULARY DUTIES - A HISTORY OF POLICING IN PICTURE POSTCARDS

By

MICHAEL DIXON

Having been a PC I suppose I was always going to be drawn to this book. The images are superb and you get a nice selection from across the entire history of postcard production. If I had one complaint to make about this book it is that there is little or mostly no information about publishers re the depicted cards, lots of informatuion around the uniform changes, the incident depicted and police history, which is all superb, but I would have liked a little more detail around the actual cards themselves, but that is a minor complaint to what is after all a very pictorial book.

My copy of the above book has been signed by the author

THE LONDON 1948 OLYMPIC GAMES - A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE

By

BOB WILCOCK

This soft cover book is an example of exactly how to do a collectors book on a single event. Printed in full colour, where applicable to the item issued, throughout, this has many postal stationery postcards and other postcards depicted, but it also has a dedicated 'Postcards' chapter as well. An absolutely superb and highly recommended book. You do not have to be a fan of this event or a collector of its material to enjoy this very informative and well presented book.

THE POSTAL CARD WORLDWIDE 1869 - 1974

VOLUME 1

By

JAMES PETER GOUGH

This fantastic two volume set was published last year (2019) by the Royal Philatelic Society and is available (whilst stocks last) from their website.

Anyone, anywhere in the world, who has an interest in the postal stationery post card and the rules and regulations relating to their issue as applied by the Universal Postal Union will find these two volumes essential. I learnt more from these two books than I have from all the other ones I have read put together.

There is one small set back though, these two volumes, sold as a single package, cost £115 (which does not include the £10 postage for the UK). But having said this, I was more than happy to pay this to receive these and to obtain all the information enclosed.

THE POSTAL CARD WORLDWIDE 1869 - 1974

VOLUME 2

By

JAMES PETER GOUGH

The second volume of this tremendous work

These two volumes are not small books!

Page from Volume 1

Page from Volume 2

A BRIEF GUIDE TO BRITISH POSTCARD INTEREST POSTCARDS 1959 - 1993

By

Ron Griffiths

Dont get this one confussed with the magazine depicted below, as the covers are very similar, but this one has a much wider theme.

This one lists cards for the centenary of the first British postcard (the postal stationery card), Exhibitions and postcard competitions, Postcard fairs (old and modern), National Postcard Week, Postcard Clubs, Postcard dealer cards, Postcard Publications and cards related to printing and publishing.

This is another great listing and another essential for anyone interested in any of these areas of collection.

A GUIDE TO BRITISH POSTCARD CENTENARY POSTCARDS 1994

By

RON GRIFFITHS

A large number of postcards were issued celebrating the 1994 Picture Postcard Centenary. Thankfully, for anyone trying to compile a complete collection Ron Griffiths produced this superb small publication. This is essential to anyone collecting this topic

There is a one sheet supplement that was also produced to go with this booklet, sadly this is often missing (although I still have mine).

I produced my own card for this centenary and I appear in this books list, which details my card release.

I collected these cards and have almost a complete collection. I am missing just one card, and despite years of searching I have never seen a copy of the one I am missing, and 500 copies of it were printed! One day I will complete my collection, one day...

...that day came in 2021 when I finally found a copy of the one card I was missing...my collection is now complete.

SHIRE ALBUM - PICTURE POSTCARDS

By

C W HILL

This 1987 issue is one of the many SHIRE books which featured all manner of collectibles across its many, many such like books. The original retail price for this 32 page booklet was £1.50. This one is worth a read.

THE EARLY DAYS OF THE POSTAL SERVICE

By

TONY GAMMONS

NATIONAL POSTAL MUSEUM

This 1986 16 page booklet is about the period before stamps and postcards came along, so has a specific theme, but if this is of interest this is a great way of learning about the early postal systems.

THE NEW SOUTH WALES POSTCARD COLLECTORS SOCIETY BULLETIN No. 144: MARCH 2015

This is an Australian clubs bulletin which was kindly sent to me because of my interest in World War 1. This has a great article on the postcards of the Australians in the Great War

FRED JUDGE 1872 - 1950 - Exhibition catalogue & guide - Hastings Museum & Art Gallery 1981.

This was the guide to an exhibition of the works of Fred Judge, who was behind the great postcard publishing company of 'Judges of Hastings'. Although not illustrated sadly, there is an interesting biography of Fred Judge included.

MODERN POSTCARDS AUCTION CATALOGUE 1991

Ron Griffiths

This catalogue is worth a look as it is partially illustrated, but does give some ideas of the prices some of these cards and sets were considered to be worth at this time (towards the end of the height of the modern postcard resurgance era).

This is my copy of the catalogue, it was a postal auction, and I spent £200 buying lots from this auction (a lot of money in 1991!)

MODERN LIMITED EDITION POSTCARDS CATALOGUE & GUIDE (1983)

By

RON GRIFFITHS

This may be small, just 27 pages, but it was the first modern postcard catalogue I ever found, and was possibly (or probably) the first one published.

BRIAN PARTRIDGE Newsletter issue 6 - 2001

Brian has been one of our great modern postcard artists. For awhile, not very long, he issued these hand made newsletters. All the text was hand written and then the sheets photocopied and folded to make the newsletters. They were packed with information and illustrations of Brian's work and postcard images. I dont think there were ever more than 30 to 40 of each issue produced so they are extremely hard to source, but if you collect Brian's work these are well worth hunting down.

The best thing about subscribing to this newsletter was that Brian sent out free postcards with every issue and he signed every one of these and sometimes even printed up exclusive postcards for the subscribers, all in an edition of around the 30 to 35 mark (and these are very collectible indeed)

BRIAN PARTRIDGE Newsletter issue 7+8 (combined issue) - 2001

Another of these very personal newsletters

YORK POSTCARD CLUB MAGAZINE Issue No. 6

These local club newsletters can be hard to source, but they can be a rich source of local history facts and images and articles.

This magazine went on to become THE POSTCARD MAGZINE (see top of previous page). This issue clearly came along after the one depicted below.

This issue was the first to have a four page additional 'BAMFORTH POSTCARD COLLECTORS CLUB pull out section

YORK POSTCARD CLUB MAGAZINE Issue No. 5

This was the first issue I received of this magazine. It has a great article about the Holmfirth Postcard Museum