Wednesday 18 March 2009

Ramsgate, UK


Postmarked Ramsgate, dated 15 August 1904.
Raphael Tuck & Sons "Oilette" Postcard 1482 Ramsgate.



Postmarked Ramsgate, dated 23 May 1904.

The waterfall and bridge have recently been restored because it had become very overgrown with vegetation.  It looks very much the same, though the bridge parapet is now stone rather than the rickety-looking wood in the postcards.

I noticed the writing on the front of the second card.  I've often wondered why people would spoil the picture like this, something they very often did.  When I turned the card over I saw the reason why.  There is a message printed above the area for a written message:

FOR INLAND POSTAGE THIS SPACE, AS 
WELL AS THE BACK, MAY NOW BE 
USED FOR COMMUNICATION. 
FOR FOREIGN POSTAGE THE BACK ONLY
(Post Office Regulation).

So, there's something new for me.  In case anyone else is interested in trivia such as this, an excerpt from A Manx Notebook:
"...it was the Penny Post Jubilee exhibition in 1890 when special cards were printed that saw changes to the British postal regulations. These regulations were in force by September 1894 but were sufficiently unclear to prevent widespread adoption until amended on 1st November 1899 - which date can be said to be the effective start of the British pictorial postcard and explains the scarcity of true Victorian cards. Postal regulations were strict that only the address could be on one face thus the views tended to be vignettes (oval shaped) or sized so that a margin was left below it for a short note.Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

4 comments:

  1. Interesting notes alongside this pretty undating poastcard

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  2. Postcard regulations vacillated a great deal from country to country in the early part of the 20th century. In the US before 1907, the address had to appear by itself on the postcard back, so the message went on the picture side. They did the same thing in France for a while, then they did the opposite and expressly prohibited any messages on the postcard front for a while, then they got with the program.

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  3. very interesting, very pretty vintage poscards.
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Martin, glad you found it interesting.

    @Chris, I'm starting to find the postal history as interesting as the cards themselves.

    @Eddy, thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to my postcard collection! I love hearing what you think of the cards - but spam WILL be deleted.

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