Hand Tinted Vintage Postcard Gallery

Our Grandmother on our Mother's side was a warm and wonderful lady called Agnes Hasmall. Sadly she died back in the late 1980's when aged 92, but some of the wonderful memorabila she left for us to remember her by included a large selection of hand tinted vintage postcards she had kept over the years, many of which dated back as far as 1911. Some of these postcards had been written to her by relatives, others were unused but had found their way into her collection, whichever they were what they all had in common was that they were quite beautiful and nostalgic reminders of a bygone era when life was simpler, families closer and warmth of personality seemed to come naturally to far more people than it does today. We are lucky enough to be able to enjoy these postcards whenever we wish to, but I now feel they should be shared with a wider audience, and what better way to achieve this than through Hubpages in the form of a hub.

I have scanned both sides of many of the cards in order for you to be able to read the actual writing on the reverse, as well as seeing the original stamps still in place on most of the cards. Where the reverse side of the card is not shown it is because the card was unwritten.

I hope looking at these postcards gives you as much pleasure as they always give me.

Picture postcards from the early part of the twentieth century give us an idea of what the world looked like at the time, as well as a clear picture of people, social customs and costume which underwent huge changes following Victoria's restrictive reign.

Women are rarely without large ornate hats, and loving couples never seem to progress further than the hand-holding during their courtships. Female models in their large picture hats were the subject of many brightly coloured picture postcards. Courtship and marriage were were treated in traditional Victorian fashion on the earlier cards and the men and women are seldom touching.

 As the twentieth century moved on women's clothing became less constrictive and the subjects on the postcards became somewhat less restricted where they portrayed couples in love. Captions were more suggestive and couples not only held hands but kissed and cuddled. At the time such images were considered very daring and it often hard to find actors and actresses to pose for such photographs.

Postcards featuring lovers were popular in every country and the captions can be found translated into many languages. Those were slightly titillating were also collected and one theme that is seen over and over is the intrusion of a third person such as a bellboy or golf caddy on a married couple about to 'spoon'.

 Women's skirts were still long at the turn of the century and figures were shaped by the ude of heavy corsets and stays. Any postcard showing a woman's legs (usually only from the knees down), was considered to be daring. Nudes were acceptable only if the picture was a reproduction of a famous painting or sculpture. One didn't embarrass the recipient of a postcard by sending anything more suggestive through the mail. Pornographic cards were made in quantity, but were sent through the mail concealed in envelopes. Because of their rarity, pornographic or suggestive picture postcards are among the most expensive for collectors who are keen to add such cards to their albums or files.

 A rather complete history of the theatre of England and America in the period leading up to World War I can be found on picture postcards. Some of the most popular are full cast photos of plays. Revered stage stars, opera singers and ballet artists were all photographed in the costumes of their most successful roles, and many stagestruck collectors filled albums with their portraits. 'Life upon the wicked stage' was another popular theme of the period and many postcards depicting the dangers of 'stage life' were published. Opera and ballet were considered socially acceptable, but the theatre had a long way to go before society would accept its actors as artists.

 Postcards were adapted from posters to advertise stage shows, and the new motion pictures did not miss the opportunity to advertise their latest productions and their most famous stars. In this brand new art form where photography was the medium, the still pictures of the glamorous movie stars went along way to publicise both the stars and their pictures. Movie historians can still find a great deal of information about the early years of the art on these publicity postcards, many of which were issued by the Hollywood studios.

The interiors of theatres, especially opera houses, very popular subjects. So many of these elaborate nineteenth century buildings have now been torn down or modernised, that often the vintage postcards are the only record left that they existed at all.

 There is some difference between American and British picture postcards that represented college life at the beginning of this century. American colleges appear to be places where the only subject taught was football while some serious postcards showing the conferring of degrees at Oxford and other serious subjects to do with British university life can be found. However, the British universities were not without their humorous cards and one especially popular series entitled 'Americans at Oxford', managed to poke fun at the naivety of young American ladies who were obviously visiting the campus unchaperoned. For example, one card in the series depicted two young American ladies coming through the door of what seems to be the student's apartments and the caption: American ladies (bursting into an undergraduate's room) 'Beg pardon, young men, we had no idea these ancient ruins were inhabited!'

 Few activities escaped the brush, pen or camera of the picture postcard designers. There are collectors who specialise in such area as sports, pictures of pretty girls, children, couples romancing, special colleges or teams etc. Collectors should remember that millions of postcards were once available that illustrated all these forms of human activity. The line-ups of many local teams to be fond on baseball, cricket, football and other athletic team cards often contain grandfathers of people we know.

 As you have probably gathered by now we actually have a great deal of these postcards, so I hope you are willing to view them all the way to the end of this hub as we have many beautiful ones yet to come as the years go on. I could have split this into multiple hubs, but decided in the end they were better kept all in one place. I do hope you agree with my decision on this.

From now I shall simply list the postcards year by year until we reach the end of the hub.

 If you have made it this far you must sincerely be a lover of vintage postcards and hopefully you therefore enjoyed this hub article. I would love to hear your feedback on these and look forward to reading your comments.