Illustrations

I always, if asked, say that I enjoy postcards showing art of any type. As a result I've received art of almost every description and, of course I realise now there are some styles I like more than others. Great favourites of mine are book illustrations such as the ones above.

I don't know if I can describe this second group as illustration. They are reproductions of covers of books and magazines.  Now, is that cover art? Or could they be described as illustrations too?

Holidays

I have, some may have noticed, been away. Part of it was holidays when I did a lot of this:

...But in a place more like this:

The weather was wonderful and I feel very much the better for it.

The girl reading, apparently propped up against a bicycle (though I suspect some PhotoShopping), comes from Russia, the Mediterranean doorway comes from the Netherlands.

U is for Ulm

Ulm, in the south of Germany, was once a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire but much of its historic centre was destroyed during World War II.  Some of the buildings, but by no means all, have been restored.

The postcard shows the modern library with the backdrop of the Butcher's Tower (Metzgerturm) and the Danube beyond.  The tower leans by over 3 degrees.  Legend has it that it was caused by overweight butchers cowering in a corner when the angry mayor came to punish them for selling low quality meat.

L is for Reading

To be more accurate, L is for "lukea" which, in Finnish, means to read.

It is an illustration by Martta Wendelin (1893-1986), an artist from Finland who created postcards, magazine covers, and illustrated fairy tales. Her themes tended to be nostalgic and charming, a little romantic.

Reading women

I seem to have given the impression that I collect postcards of women or girls reading because just after Eva's comment the other day (Eva of Mail Adventures), I received this postcard with 54 different pictures of women reading!  I've scanned it at a relatively high resolution so that if you click on the image you should be able to see better.

Of course they aren't identified on the back so now starts the challenge of working out who they all are.  For my own reference purposes I've allocated them A-F for rows and 1-9 columns.

Row A
1. Marie Adelaide of France by Jean-Etienne Liotard
2. In Slaap Gevallen by Kik Zeiler, 1948
3. An Interlude by William Sergeant Kendall, 1907
4. De gezusters Arntzenius ('lezende zusjes') or The Arntzenius sisters (reading sisters) - WB Tholen, 1895
5. The Magdalen Reading by Rogier van der Weyden, about 1435
6. Helene Vary by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1889
7. Reading a Story by James Tissot, 1878
8. Alice by George Dunlop Leslie, 1879
9. The Maid With the Golden Hair by Frederick Lord Leighton

Row B
1. Virgin and Child, by William Dyce
2. Gare St Lazare, by Edouard Manet 1873
3. From Ot and Sien, Cornelis Jetses 1873-1955
4. The Reader Crowned with Flowers, or Virgil's Muse, by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 1845
5. Girl Reading, Jean-Baptiste Camille-Corot, 1850/1855
6. Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading, by Mary Cassatt, 1876
7. Ballet Class, the Dance Hall [detail] by Edgar Dégas, 1880
8. Reading by Lamplight, by George Clausen, 1909
9. The Novel Reader, by Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Row C
1. Woman by a Goldfish Tank, by Lovis Corinth, 1911
2. La Liseuse [The Reader], by Alfred Emile Stevens, about 1860
3. Meditation: Madame Monet on a Couch, by Claude Monet, 1871
4. Madonna mit den Erdbeeren [Madonna with Strawberries, by "The Upper Rhenish Master", c. 1425.
5. St Catherine, by "The master of the Half length", 1830s
6. Lezende Vrouw[Reading Woman], by Matthieu Wiegman, 1925
7. Intérieure, by Edgar Fernhout, 1951
8. Mary Reading, by Lorenzo Costa, c. 1515
9. Interior with poppies and reading woman (Lizzy Hohlenberg), by Anna Ancher, 1905

Row D
1. The Novel: A Lady in a Garden Reading a Book, Frank Dicey,
2. Home Devotion by Adolf Hölzel
3. L'Edition de Luxe, by Lilian Westcott Hale, 1910
4.Young Girl Reading by Gustav Adolph Hennig, 1828
5.The Little Convalescent by Eastman Johnson, 1872-1880
6. Leisure, by William W Churchill, 1910
7. Young Woman Reading, by Mary Cassatt, 1876
8. The Reading Lesson, Auguste Toulmouche
9. Girl Reading, by Edmund Tarbell, 1909

Row E
1. Woman Reading by Léon Kamir Kaufman, 1921
2. Woman Reading by Candlelight by Peter Ilsted, 1908
3. A Quiet Read in a Chinoiserie Interior, by Georges Croegaert, 1888
4. ?
5. Woman reading, by J Paul Allinson, 1940
6. Repose, by Jacques Cancaret
7. Girl with a Book by William Merritt Chase, 1902
8. La Lettre by Henry Lerolle
9. The Browning Readers by William Rothenstein, 1900

Row F
1. Elegant Woman in Library by Edouard Gelhay
2. La lecture by Henri Fantin-Latour
3. Portrait of Katie Lewis by by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1886
4. Val d'Arconville by Theodore Robinson, 1888
5. Mademoiselle Guillaumin Reading by Armand Guillaumin, 1907
6. Woman Reading by a Window by David Alison
7. Young Woman Reading a Letter by Jean Raoux, 1717-1719
8. Woman Reading on Subway by Silvina Resnik
9. At The Window by Hans Olaf Heyerdahl, 1881

All but one, I think, I've found!  Some were easy, some were really difficult.

Book versus doll

A doll lies abandoned on the floor while the little girl reads her book.  It's a new book apparently because the title of the picture, a watercolour by George Goodwin Kilburne, is "The New Book".  The date on it is 1870.

I have discovered in my efforts t find out more about this painting, that Wikipedia has a whole category called "Paintings of sitting girls reading indoors".  I already have a few of them...  Are there categories for reading out of doors, women, men, I wonder?  I have a few of those too...

The postcard was sent to me from the Netherlands although the artist is British.

Beatrix Potter

When I was little, my mother used to read me Beatrix Potter's books and then later (though it seemed only a flash) I used to read them to my sons when they were small.  I am waiting until my grandchildren are the right age for me to start reading them again.

This particular illustration is from The Tale of Peter Rabbit and it shows how Mr McGregor, the grumpy gardener, used Peter's jacket and shoes to make a scarecrow to frighten off the blackbirds.

New Yorker

It really isn't easy to use the Blogger app. There is no html and no option to add any links, no way that I have yet found to add labels.  However I managed to upload a number of postcard scans so I'll try to plough onwards.

The card shown is one of a boxed set of New Yorker covers and the first I've received.  It fits very well in my books/libraries/reading collection. 

I've bought a couple of boxed sets myself and they are extremely good value even though I find I am left with a few cards that don't seem suitable for anyone.

Translation of the bible

In 1988 the Royal Mail issued a set of four stamps (shown as PHQ cards above) to commemorate the 1588 of the bible in the Welsh language.  There were in fact about eight translators but the four shown on the stamps were Richard Davies, William Morgan, Richard Parry, and William Salesbury.

William Salesbury and also Richard Davies translated the New Testament in 1567.  William Morgan translated the complete bible in 1588 and Richard Parry was responsible for the 1620 revision.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Charlotte and Emily Brontë

Although Emily and Charlotte Brontë are both better known as authors (for Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre respectively) they both also wrote a considerable amount of poetry.  These stamp cards, PHQ cards, were issued in 1980 as part of a series of famous people (female authors).  I have to be honest, I don't find them especially attractive designs.

Yesterday I was looking at a box of postcards "100 Writers in One Box" by Penguin.  One of the reviewers on the Amazon site noted that only 14% of the postcards were women writers.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Mexican revolution

The card shows the same library in Mexico City as my previous card from Mexico City.  This one, though, has a stamp celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.  The entire year of 2010 was declared the Year of the Nation because it was also the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence.  I imagine there was a stamp for that anniversary too but I haven't been able to find out.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"