Some additional Franz Thiemer cards have been added, including from Egypt, China, Birma and Denmark.

A couple of new Franz Thiemer Greenland postcards, one postally used in 1899, have been added to the site.

An assortment of additional cards published by Franz Thiemer, dating from 1898 to 1900, from countries including including Turkey, India, Burma (Myanmar), Japan and Sweden, have been added. I still haven’t cracked posting many of the European cards, but will at some point.

Another small posting of Franz Thiemer cards, this time from Southeast Asia.

Another group of Franz Thiemer cards has been added, covering some of their issues in North Africa and the Middle East.

I’ve added a couple of postally unused cards from the Caribbean, and a card from Denmark. There is at least one other card from Cuba.

Several examples of Japanese cards produced by Franz Thiemer have been added.

I’ve filled in a few more blanks in the list and added some additional cards from Australia, the US, and Russia.

Further additions to the Franz Thiemer listings have been added, this time with several cards from the USA.

I’ve added some additional cards into the site, none of which are Canadian this time around, but instead represent some other areas of the world depicted on these cards. I’ve also updated the site with an updated catalog-in-progress of the cards of Franz Thiemer & Co., with about 140 of the ±200 cards identified to date.

Another Canadian pioneer postcard example from Franz Thiemer & Co. of Dresden, Germany has been added, along with more from that worldwide series dating to about 1899.

A couple of months ago I acquired a “Canadian” postcard, postally used in 1899, seen here, that was from a series I hadn’t encountered before. Reaching out to a couple of members of the Toronto Postcard Club as to whether they were familiar with this series, a very knowledgeable response came back from Andrew, who then proceeded to share a wide selection of other cards that he had acquired in this series featuring scenes from other parts of the world. He also had a theory explaining the peculiar attributes that cards in this series shared, and followed up sourcing further info on the publisher from Helmfried Luers, a German expert on European postcard publishers, who provided further insight. Intrigued, I’ve acquired more cards from the publisher, "Franz Thiemer & Co." (trading as "Compagnie Comet”), which I’ll be adding as time passes.

I’ve added another example of Toronto Litho’s Canadian Cities Series postcards with a reduced size version of their Christmas & New Year’s greeting on the reverse. Although unused, this particular card design dates from between 1898 and 1900.

Another postcard from this series has been added with the attribution to C.A. Miller, Whirlpool Rapids, Canada Side.

A selection of additional pioneer Albertype “Greetings from Quebec” postcards have been added.

A new page has been set up for the patriotic postcards of McAlpine Publishing Co. Limited of Halifax.

Another Atkinson Bros. anomaly—a P.D. Ayer card with an image taken from an early Atkinson Bros. card. Was Atkinson Bros. material being sold off to other publishers?

A couple of additional postcards from McCoy Series 6 have been added—but with the twist that these cards both have back associated with Atkinson Bros.

Another card from John Walker & Co. has been added, showing the Colonial Buildings, Charlottetown, postally used in 1903.

A new page has been added featuring the Series 8 cards by the Canadian View Card Company.

Another interesting version of this series, using red ink for the caption and image, similar to the Owen Sound card, this one being from near Coleman, Alberta.

Several more examples of Toronto Litho’s Christmas overprint on their Canadian Cities Series and their Royalty Patriotic Series have been added.

For years I’d been missing one final postcard from the patriotic series by the King’s Printer. I recently filled in the missing card, No. 200 of the series.

Another card has been added in W.G. MacFarlane’s Series 72, this time a Montreal card in a different colour & design.

A new page has been added showing cards from Winnipeg’s Bulman Bros. & Co.

P.D. Ayer & Co.’s Series 7 cards have been listed on the site on their own page.

W.G. MacFarlane’s Series 20 patriotic postcards showing the city of Hamilton have been broken off onto their own page. Click on the card above to visit that page.

W.G. MacFarlane’s Series 18 patriotic postcards have been broken off onto their own page. Click on the card above to visit that page.

A W.G. MacFarlane patriotic postcard from the BC series has been added.

I’ve migrated my Galbraith material from the old site format to the current site format and added new material.

This W.G. MacFarlane postcard series with Evangeline’s profile, showing “Cape Blomidon, near Wolfville, N.S.” The card was mailed from Wolfville on July 23, 1902 with a 1¢ QV stamps to Westport Point, Massachusetts, USA.

Below, the reverse of the card, with a July 24 receiver.

Another early W.G. MacFarlane patriotic postcard, card no. 26 from Series 24B, showing the pink version of the City of Halifax crest, has been added. This card has the earliest Private Mailing Card back, mailed June 23, 1903 from Halifax with a 2¢ QV numeral stamp (a week before the KEVII stamps were issued), to Argentina. The card bears a June 25th NYC transit marking.

I’ve created a new page for the cards of T.N. Hibben, Fr. Müller and Ottmar Zieher.

A new page showing early MacFarlane view cards has been added, including this 1902 example.

Another card back for Semple & Luke’s SEL-001 pioneer patriotic postcard series has been added.

A new MacFarlane patriotic postcard series, number 9, showing the crest of Britsh Columbia, has been added.

An example has been added of Toronto Litho’s pioneer postcard Canadian Cities Series Type I Quebec City card with the scarce occurrence of the text “Private Post Card”. This text appeared early in the issuance of the series, in keeping with postal regulations.

A new unused W.G. MacFarlane Yukon patriotic card has been added, showing Indigenous basket venders.

In recognition of the season, I’ve posted a Toronto Litho Canadian Cities Series pioneer postcard of the Halifax design, with a Xmas & New Year’s Greeting printed on the reverse. The card was mailed from Halifax on January 4, 1900 to Herr Aug Goetze, Bahnhof, Zittau YS, Germany (a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, very close to the border tri-point of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic) with a Zittau Jan 17 1900 receiver. The sender was A. Burnham of New York City. The card is of particular interest, as it was initially printed in 1898 with the year 1898-9 in the greeting, which was subsequently overprinted with 1899-1900.

Yet another variation of this series, this time with the entire front in red, other than the illustration. A previously unreported version of this card with the standard green decorative border, but with the words “Owen Sound” added, and a red inset image was previously added. The reverse, with the words “Souvenir Post Card” rather than “Private Post Card” is printed in red in this variation rather than green.

Some additional cards from McCoy Series 6 have been added.

A number of postcards from the Toronto Litho Co. Series 9 (as enumerated by Michael J. Smith in his The Canadian Patriotic & Heraldic Postcard Handbook 1897–1945 Volume II), have been added.

This Albertype postcard showing the Old Clock Tower and Citadel in Halifax is postmarked November 2, 1903 to Nelson, New Zealand, where it was received December 17 with a receiving cancel.

The McCoy listings have been expanded to include a page showing Series 11, the issue commemorating the coronation of King Edward VII in August 1902.

A new page has been added for Henry Garner - Living Picture Post Card Co. (abbreviated H.G.L.) of Leicester, England, who produced a range of postcards in the vicinity of Toronto, in addition to their cards from elsewhere in the world.

This Toronto Litho Co. Ltd. pioneer postcard from their Canadian Cities Series illustrating one of the two Quebec City designs has been mailed with a 2¢ QV Numeral stamp from Toronto on April 22, 1903 to Miss Nora von Fallot, at 56 Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan with a Tokyo receiving cancel dated May 18, 1903, on the reverse.

The reverse of the card contains extensive social history, with the author, Carla, noting that last Wednesday she had seen Sir Oliver Mowat’s funeral procession, and that she attended the Diocese of Toronto Women’s Auxiliary meeting last week, where Miss Cartwright was elected 1st vice president.

I’ve added a card from a Canadian View Card Company series previously not catalogued in Mike Smith’s The Canadian Patriotic & Heraldic Postcard Handbook1897–1945. This card is in a familiar CVCC format, but with the text “Greetings from Montreal”. The card has been postally used July 27, 1903, from Riviere Du Loup Stn East to New York.

The listing for W.G. MacFarlane’s patriotic postcard Series 8A & 8B, showing the crest of the Yukon, has been updated.

The listing for W.G. MacFarlane’s patriotic postcard Series 10, showing Manitoba’s provincial crest, has been expanded, with the addition of an unlisted card, shown at left.

This postcard by John Walker & Co Ltd. shows a scene of Montreal from Mount Royal, as well as a map of Montreal and its environs. The undiviided back card is not postally used.

W.G. MacFarlane’s Series 72, with a collection of pull-out scenes in a heavier card stock folder, have been updated to the current site format.

A new card from W.G. MacFarlane’s Series 79, as listed in Mike Smith’s The W.G. MacFarlane Picture Postcard Handbook 1902–1910 has been added to this site. The card has a very high level of printing quality, includes embossing, and was postally used in 1908.

This postally unused example of an early twentieth century postcard from John Walker & Co. Ltd. is no. 441, showing a map by J. Bartholomew & Co. with an illustration of Place D’Armes, Montreal.

I’ve added a wide range of updates to the site, adding a number of pages in the current site format and deprecating the older formatted pages.

The section on the postcards of The Province Publishing Coy. Ltd., and its successor, BC Print’g & Engr Corp. Ltd. have been updated to the new site format, and additional information added.

A new page for the cards of The Photochrom Company, the precursor of the Detroit Photographic Company, has been added, with some new material.

This Toronto Litho Canadian Cities Series pioneer postcard was mailed from St. John NB to Liverpool England in January 1902 and marked paid with a Liverpool Packet cancel. Clicking on the postcard image will take you to the Toronto Litho sub-site in a separate window.

This illustrated envelope featuring Toronto’s King Edward Hotel has been published by the Toronto Litho Co. showing a scene similar to their postcard for the same hotel. The reverse of the envelope bears a stamp box and location for the address, and the words “Design Patented” and “Toronto Litho Co.”

A new card has been added to the patriotic postcards published by the Summerside Journal, and that section has been updated to the current website format.

This example of the McCoy Series 1 coin card has been overprinted by Victor E. Marentette & Son of Windsor, Ontario. The unusual feature of the card is that the card has scalloped edges, likely also added by Victor E. Marentette & Son. The card has been postally used from Windsor to Paris, France on May 28, 1906.

A new example of a Semple & Luke pioneer postcard back has been added, and the Semple & Luke listings updated to suit.

This patriotic W.G. MacFarlane postcard has been added to the site, along with a new Series 17 page, which illustrates cards from the City of Calgary.

This Toronto Litho Co. Ltd. pioneer postcard was mailed by the company’s president, William Stone, to Hotel de la Poste in Ghent, Belgium from the company’s headquarters at 680 King Street West in Toronto. It is postmarked with a Bathurst Street Toronto postmark dated October 10, 1899, and bears a 2 Map stamp as well as a “Too Late” cancellation. The card also bears a Gand October 24, 1899 receiving cancel. Stone writes:

“Dear Sir: Knowing your good Hotel by reputation, I take the liberty of asking you to kindly mail mean illustrated post card of your City. Hoping to pay you a visit in the near future. Yours sincerely,Wm. Stone”

This note by William Stone prompts the question, was Stone a postcard collector? Was this research into contemporary European postcard printing part of company business? Or was Stone just curious about a city he planned to visit?

I’ve updated the site by moving across the W.G. MacFarlane cards to the current site format. I’ll add some additional depth to this material in future updates.

The listing of Young Bros. patriotic postcards has been updated to the current site layout, and new material added.

A new page has been added to update the Atkinson Bros postcard listings to the newer site format, as well as some new material being added.

A new card from Series 8 by the Canadian View Card Co. has been added. This is a variation from the primary design, of which Mike Smith enumerates 3 other cards with the words “Greetings from Niagara Falls” above the flag. This card, with the image and text “Ice Mountain from Canada” has a similar design to one found in Series 3.

I’ve added an update for P.D. Ayer & Co. to bring that publisher into the new site format, and to reconcile the numbering system to match revisions in Mike Smith’s listings in the second edition of his patriotic handbook.

A page showing the patriotic postcards of P. Cross, a Toronto publisher who issued a pair of series of cards about 1904 or 1905, has been added. One series featuring images overlaid over the Union Jack flag showing politicians running in the 1905 Ontario provincial election, while a second series using the same background overlaid by images from Muskoka’s Lake Joseph.

Another MacFarlane patriotic postcard has been added, this time from Series 9, with the BC crest, sent from Vancouver on July 20, 1904 to Tangier Morocco, with a Tangier receiver dated August 8.

A Series 14 MacFarlane patriotic postcard mailed in 1904 from Halifax to Sgt. Newcombe of the Royal Engineers in Bermuda has been added to the Foreign Destinations.

I’ve migrated the former Toronto Litho subpages to the new web site format, and introduced some new material. Check out this link to access that part of the site.

A second card by Turnbull’s Postals Series has been added. This card has been trimmed and the stamp removed. The card was sent from Guelph to France in June 1900, and shows St. George’s Church and River Speed.

A copy of a postcard published by The Province Publishing Coy. Ltd. showing a scene of a rustic bridge in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC has been added to the site. The card was postally used from Vancouver to Surrey, England in December of 1899.

I’ve updated the McCoy Printing Company listings of patriotic postcards to the updated site design, and added some additional material.

I’ve updated to the new site format the page listing many of the patriotic postcard series published by The Canadian View Card Company, (CVCC) an early Toronto-based postcard publisher whose work included a wide variety of patriotic postcards, as well as adding some additional examples.

The site has been updated with an addition to The McCoy Printing Company’s listings of Series 6, the patriotic series similar to the postcard shown at left. The Series 6 page has now been added in the updated site format, with other patriotics from McCoy to follow as time permits.

The page shows a number of uses of the series from what was then the North West Territories, some with Assiniboia (ASSA) cancellations.

One of my favourite Albertype Company-based local publishers in Landahl’s Emporium in Dawson, Yukon.

In Dawson, Yukon Territory, Harry Landahl established Landahl’s Emporium at 116 Second Avenue South in late 1904. This was followed by a relocation to 205 King Street into the former location of Smith’s Book Store in 1906. Landahl’s Emporium was the publisher of a wide variety of Dawson postcards printed by The Albertype Co. from about August 1905 through July 1913.

I’ve added seven more cards from Landahl’s Emporium, including the card pictured here, to the collection. Some of the cards are postally used from one sender (circa 1906) who described the price of meat (“as high as $1.00 per pound” and “Mountain Sheep–which are frozen meat, brought from 50 to 75 cts per pound”) and furs (“These furs and heads are from up the Stewart river and are worth $5000, all belong to the Indian”)

This pioneer postcard is noted as one of “Turnbull’s Private Postals Series I”, showing St. George’s Square, the heart of the city of Guelph, Canada. It has been mailed to Lamastre, France on June 14, 1900, and has a Lamastre receiver dated June 25th.

The writer notes, on the reverse of the card, “The statue on the fountain represents “Industry”, and is quite an attraction for the City. It is situated on the expansion of the Main Street, named Wyndham Street, and is called St. George’s Square. The nearest building is the Post Office and the next is the Traders Bank”.

Another example of a pioneer postcard published by William Bryce has been added to the site, this one showing an image of Toronto Street, Toronto.

While these early cards published by William Bryce date to the late 19th century, William Bryce continued to issue postcards into the early 20th century, from his store at 489–491 Queen Street West in Toronto, 100 yards west of Spadina Avenue.

William Bryce, wholesale book publisher & stationer, also published a range of other material, as seen from the company’s other covers and postal stationery cards.

The Albertype Co., printers of postcards for a wide range of small town merchants who sought to have their own local postcards, have a separate subdomain on this site, albertype.vintagepostcards.ca. I’ve just updated the design of that subdomain to reflect the design of the main site, providing a site that is responsive to the device (computer, phone or tablet), that is used, and delivering an optimized viewing experience. I’ll be adding more content over time, as I have a number of additional cards awaiting scanning & adding to the site.