Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd who sold postcards for most of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The main Arsenal Gates, 1905

The picture postcard of the late 19th and 20th centuries remains a wonderful source for anyone interested in the past.

They covered everything from landscapes to individual houses and in the fullness of time the amusing and slightly rude seaside card.

At the most basic level they allow you to track how a place has changed, comparing a street in say 1900 with one today.

But for me it is also the messages written on the back which open up the world of our grandparents and great parents.

So from the trivial and mundane like a Christmas greeting or details of where and when to meet up there are the concerns for each other’s health and comments on politics and the current social issues.

Writing to mother

In one sent in 1911 there are comments about the election of a local Conservative councillor and the news that the factory is about to go on strike while in another a Gladys is keen to point out on the card where she lives and the progress on the redevelopment of an old estate close by.

The one opposite is the reverse of  the photograph and describes a young man's first day at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.

He reassures his mother he is fine describes leaving by "the big gat" and comments on the size of the place.

Like so many I have read the message is terse with the odd spelling mistake and was dashed off in a hurry.

I do puzzle at the absence of a stamp but perhaps it was one that just never got sent.

Outside the showrooms

And as you would expect there are collectors and sites dedicated to both selling the cards and furthering research on the companies that marketed them and the photographers who took the pictures.

All of which is a lead into a new series on those collectors and the sites they run.

I am starting with TuckDB which “aims to be the go-to reference for Tuck postcard collectors, historians or anybody who enjoys artistic paintings and photographs.”*

Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd sold postcards for most of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Theirs was a very big concern with offices across Europe and America and in 1883, were granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment by Queen Victoria and thereafter Tuck cards bore the message, "Art Publishers to Her Majesty the Queen".

The site is an extensive one which provides a history of the company and a free database of the cards produced.

I have to admit being lost for hours wandering across cities, rural landscapes and heading off across the world.

And inside the show rooms with all the gas appliances you could wish for

But as ever I was drawn back to the places which have always meant most to me.

Sadly there are few of Chorlton and those that are there are ones that crop up in most collections.  Of Eltham there are but three.

Happily as you might expect there are plenty of Manchester many of which I have never seen before and plenty that are a pure joy to look at.

But I will finish with another two from Woolwich which perfectly capture what makes these postcards so wonderful.  They are from the series on the South Metropolitan Gas Company and feature the interior and exterior of the shop at 36 Powis Street.

Not I grant you most zippiest of subjects but someone will have thought so at the time.  And looking at the same spot today I rather think the South Metropolitan Gas Company stole a march on what stands there today.

Added to the there is this wonderful view of the gas appliances on sale.

Pictures; Main Arsenal Gates & Road, July 25 1905,and the reverse & SHOW - ROOMS,- 36, POWIS ST. WOOLWICH, from a set entitled, London, SOUTH METROPOLITAN GAS COMPANY, un dated courtesy of TuckDB

*http://tuckdb.org/history