I like this picture postcard, but have never thought about writing its story.
I suppose that is because it is one of those general picture postcards, which will have been over printed with the names of towns and cities across the country.
So, as such its connection to Manchester is pretty slim, and it just kept getting passed over.
But yesterday I persevered, that said, with no comment on the back, no address and above all no postmark there seemed little to go on.
There was however the name of the company who marketed it, but I didn’t hold out much hope, given that there were countless companies which flourished and vanished during the decades either side of the last century.
But I was wrong, because The Cynicus Publishing Company Ltd of Tayport in Fife, wasn’t any old postcard company it was established by Martin Anderson, who according to one source was “better known by his pseudonym Cynicus, was a Scottish artist, political illustrator and publisher”.*
His early working life involved producing illustrations for a variety of publications, before setting up in his own business in London in 1891, and from there setting up a postcard company publishing his own designs in 1902.
After a promising start his business like many suffered from a fall in the popularity of such picture postcard and the company went into liquidation with his stocks of prints and original work were sold for a fraction of their real worth.
A further attempt at a similar business also met with failure when the market for seaside picture postcards declined with the outbreak of the Great War.
Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities.
“In 1924 his Edinburgh shop was destroyed by fire, everything inside it was lost, and he did not have the funds to repair and restock it. He retired to his castle-like mansion in Balmullo to live in increasing poverty. A final edition of The Satires of Cynicus was published in 1926.”*
He died in 1932, and was buried in an unmarked grave, without a tombstone, and the final indignity was that his home was extensively vandalised after his death.
So a sad story for what was a very happy looking picture postcard.
Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities.
* Cynicus, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicus
So, as such its connection to Manchester is pretty slim, and it just kept getting passed over.
But yesterday I persevered, that said, with no comment on the back, no address and above all no postmark there seemed little to go on.
There was however the name of the company who marketed it, but I didn’t hold out much hope, given that there were countless companies which flourished and vanished during the decades either side of the last century.
His early working life involved producing illustrations for a variety of publications, before setting up in his own business in London in 1891, and from there setting up a postcard company publishing his own designs in 1902.
After a promising start his business like many suffered from a fall in the popularity of such picture postcard and the company went into liquidation with his stocks of prints and original work were sold for a fraction of their real worth.
A further attempt at a similar business also met with failure when the market for seaside picture postcards declined with the outbreak of the Great War.
Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities.
He died in 1932, and was buried in an unmarked grave, without a tombstone, and the final indignity was that his home was extensively vandalised after his death.
So a sad story for what was a very happy looking picture postcard.
Mr. Martin produced a series of anti war posters and cards, which got him into trouble with the authorities.
* Cynicus, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicus
Glad you put the spotlight, however fleeting, on this artist.
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