Images of the Day: Postcards

A welcome surprise discovery; hundreds of mid-century postcards from museums from around the world. The images of paintings, sculptures, and architecture appear to have been from a long-since-retired art professor. Although I liked looking at and recognizing a few of the images on the front of the postcards, I fell in love with the reverse sides. Below is a small sampling of the cards, and a some detail scans as well. Click on any of the images for an enlarged view of them.

Image of the Day: S. Cooke Imgraham's Books

Image of the Day; Heavier Stationery Paper and Not Cocaine

19th Century Trade Cards and Advertisements

via letterology
“With so few marketing options available for shopkeepers in the 19th C, the trade card was considered an essential form of advertising. Designers were just as compelled to create sharp examples of typography and printing then as they are today—much of it hand lettered and illustrated to promote their skills. American cards were intended to be more colorful than some of the European cards and they soon became quite collectable. These ornate trade cards eventually evolved into the business card as we know it today…”
See more examples here, and here at Sheaff: Ephemera listed under The Printing Trades tab.

Geometric Pattern

via the ephemera society item of the month

“Sheet of paper with hand-painted blue edge and crisp embossed border by Dobbs, London. Circa 1820s. This page shows how a complex shape can be created from simpler shapes working only with a compass. A companion piece on the same paper bears the watermark ‘J Budgen 1821.’ ”

Visit the site here to explore more ephemera.