Talk to Edinburgh University - Celtic and Scottish Studies

Photos then Postcards

Valentine's Books

Between about 1890 and 1910, Valentine & Sons also produced a range of books of their photos at prices considerably lower than they had charged in earlier years for their Drawing Room Albums.
There were many book titles, including:

- Photographic view album of Alva and district

- Photographic view album of Falkland and district

- Photographic view album of Girvan

- Photographic view album of Gourock and district

- Photographic view album of West Kilbride and district

- Views of the Trossachs and Loch Lomond

- Edinburgh: Collotype View Book

Front Cover

Inside the Back Cover

Holyrood Abbey, Holyrood Palace

Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park is in the background

Here is a stereo view by G W Wilson:

Here are three 'straight photos' of Holyrood Abbey and Palace. Nothing has been done to modify this view in any way to make it more appealing - that was not necessary!
The three views are by different photographers but are very similar to each other. The view has changed very little over more than a century since these photos were taken, except for the fact that it is likely to be more hidden by trees today.

Photographer: James Patrick

Photographer: James Valentine

Photographer: George Washington Wilson

The photos above are all true to life. However, the next one creates a more romantic, misty atmosphere. It was published as a 'Photogravure Series' postcard in Valentine & Sons'.

Postcard: Valentine & Sons

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The Three Photogaphers

who photographed Holyrood Abbey, above

Patrick

Valentine

Wilson

James Patrick

James Patrick was born in Fife in 1863. He and his son, John, were both active members of Edinburgh Photographic Society. James gave lectures showed lantern slides to the society over 20 years from 1883, and became President in 1897.
He was keen to promote photography as a fine art, and spoke of:
“men of artistic instinct, and a love for the beautiful and grand in nature, who now find in photography a means of expressing their thoughts and feelings.”
James produced many postcards of Swanston to the south of Edinburgh at the foot of the Pentland Hills.

Valentine & Sons

Valentine's topological views for the middle class and upper class tourist market. They were sold separately and in drawing room albums:

          - imperial (approx 12 ins x 8 ins)
          - cabinet (approx 8 ins x 6 ins) and
          - card (approx 4 ins x 3 ins).
Prices ranged from:
- Card (small print): 6d (Equivalent, 2010 = £2)
- Album bound in finest morocco: 15 Gns (Equivalent, 2010 = £1,300)

G W Wilson

G W Wilson always regarded himself as an artist, rather than 'just a photographer'.
In the mid-1850s, as tourism was becoming more popular, he began to produce stereo views. These he sold at 2 shilling each. (Equivalent, 2010 = £10)
Wilson photographed Queen Victoria when she came to Balmoral to grieve, following the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861. In 1863, sold almost 13,000 copies of his cartes de visite photograph of Queen Victoria.
In his catalogue in the 1880s, he listed more than 10,000 views of Scotland.
Around that time, like other photographers, he was concerned about the permanence of photographic images, so he began to offer some photos printed by the carbon process. Not everybody would have been able to afford these.
His prices (and the equivalent price today, allowing for inflation) were:

      - 17 ins x 11.5 ins:    10s 6d                                    (Equivalent, 2010 = £42)
      - 24 ins x 18 ins:       15s 0d                                    (Equivalent, 2010 = £60)
      - 17 ins x 11.5 ins, hand-coloured:    25s 0d          (Equivalent, 2010 = £100)
      - 24 ins x 18 ins, hand-coloured:       35s 0d          (Equivalent, 2010 = £140)

                 Source: George Washington Wilson, Artist and Photographer 1823-1893 (Roger Taylor) Publ. Aberdeen University Press

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Types and Dates

of Postcards

Britain's First Postcards

1870

Postcards have been used in Britain since they were first introduced by the Post Office in 1870. These cards were plain cards issued by the Post Office. They had a pre-printed stamp.
The address was written on one side of the card and the message, often very brief, was written on the other side. There was no picture. Here is an example form 1890, in which one Edinburgh photographer is advising another of the date of a photographic society meeting:

1894

Britain's first Picture Postcards

From 1 September 1894, the Post Office allowed postcards published by others to be posted. A halfpenny adhesive stamp was to be added to these cards before posting.
Several manufacturers produced cards. The first publisher to include pictures on their postcards is believed to have been George Stewart of 92 George Street, Edinburgh.

Court Cards

1895
From 1895 onwards, a size of 4.75 ins x 3.5 ins was adopted for postcards. These were known as Court Cards. The address was written on one side. The reverse bore a small picture leaving sufficient space to write a message.
Here is an early court card by Valentine's. The company first produced postcards in 1897.

Standard size of Postcard

1899

From 1899 onwards, the standard size of 5.25ins ins x 3.5 ins, already in use in other countries, was accepted in Britain.
The address, and nothing else, still had to be written on the back of the card. The front was used for the picture and message. Sometimes, the picture covered most of the card, leaving little room for the message.

Divided Backs

1902

In 1902 the Post Office in Britain changed the rules to allow the back of the card (which post office workers incidentally referred to as the 'front' of the card) to be used for:

ON THE LEFT: The message.

ON THE RIGHT: The address.

Publishers normally printed a line down the middle of the back of the card to separate the two halves. These became known as 'divided back cards'. The divided back is an indication that the card would have been published in 1902 or later if the card was British.
Britain was the first country to adopt the divided back. Other countries followed later, USA in 1907.

Halfpenny Post

to 1918

From the time that postcards were first allowed in Britain, in 1870:
- the cost of inland postage was one halfpenny (about £0.002).
- the cost of posting a letter inland was a penny (about £0.004).
This halfpenny postage rate remained unchanged until 1918. Here are some cards with halfpenny stamps from the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V. One of these cards bears two halfpenny stamps. That one was posted overseas.

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Decline in Use

of Postcards

Post-1914
Decline in the hobby of collecting picture postcards began with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and continued later in the decade when the Post Office increased the cost of posting a card from a halfpenny:

However, following major protests, the cost was reduced to a penny in 1922.
It remained at 1d for a further 18 years until it increased to 2d in 1940, soon after the outbreak of World War II.

1d © © © ©

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