EDITORIAL WINTER 2005€¦ · Web viewEDITORIAL WINTER 2005. Now you thought it’s the end, of...

EDITORIAL WINTER 2005

Now you thought it’s the end, of old Bill’s rhymesWith young Fred at the helm, into these modern times

I think I can safely say that those of us who attended, all enjoyed themselves at our 19th convention at the Ramada Hotel at Hatfield. Unfortunately one of our members had not realised that convention time had come around again so quickly and only made the Sunday morning, while my son Kenneth had a business meeting he had to go to, but has promised he will be at our next do. Another member had got his display ready and booked his accommodation at the hotel for the week after we held the convention. George and Flo Simner with their friend were at an Army reunion in Malta, and if they had all turned up we would have had a record attendance.

Being held nearer London we missed seeing Graham Hall, but were glad to see Bob and Gwen Tough again, also Ted and Ann Stevens from Shepton Mallet. Another relatively new member attending his first convention was John Greatrex who turned up unexpectedly on the Sunday. He entertained us with a poem he had written about the Great Exhibition and Joseph Paxton. Another member we had not seen before at a Convention was Ray Goodey, who came complete with a display to entertain us with.

At our Annual General Meeting we had agreed to meet at Hatfield again for 2006, but John Greatrex re-opened the discussion again on the Sunday by suggesting we meet at the Crystal Palace where he could arrange for the use of the hotel on the Crystal Palace site, for bed and breakfast and our Saturday night dinner, with a free meeting room for our convention. This was an offer too good to be missed, so in 2006 we shall be seeing the monsters in their new finery, done at enormous expense.

At Bipex in September I heard a sad story from Richard Stenlake. I was at his stand and had asked him if he knew anything about Stanley’s collection, which I think everyone was under the impression, he had left to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, apparently this was not so. According to Richard, Stanley only had two relations a niece who did not wish to be involved with the disposal of his collection, and Stanley’s brother Morton. Morton hired a skip and dumped the lot.

The driver who came to pick up the loaded skip, thought it looked interesting and called on a dealer on his way to the tip, who immediately recognised what he was looking at, as he knew Stanley well and had sold him items in the past. He got on to the man who’s buying all the exhibition material on E-Bay and sold the collection for £40,000. So the collection was, at literally the last moment, saved from destruction on a land fill site.

Another collector who was sitting beside me at Richard Stenlake’s stand while this tale was being unfolded, at this point entered the conversation. He was a member of Stanley’s Scottish Exhibition Group and was able to add further gloom to the story. Apparently Stanley had a pass word on his computer, which nobody knew. So all of Stanley’s files and whatever else he had stored in the way of information on Scottish Exhibitions has been lost.

It seems incredible that Stanley should have left no instructions on what was to be done with his collection after his death. This was very sudden, and perhaps it was something he meant to do tomorrow, which of course as we all know never comes, or perhaps there is a will gathering dust in the care of some solicitor who doesn’t know his client has died, I suppose this is possible. But it is a very sad ending to the story of a man whose love and knowledge of Scottish Exhibitions will never be equalled, and gained for him world wide recognition.

Stanley did publish several books during his lifetime, and the Exhibition Study Group helped to finance a major part of the production of his 332 page ‘Kelvingrove and the 1886 Exhibition.’ this was his first important publication and was meant to be the first of a series of books on Exhibitions held in Glasgow. The Study Group also published his ‘Footsteps at the American World’s Fairs’ a journey Stanley made in 1993 visiting the sites of the big three American Worlds Fairs, the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia, the 1893 Columbian in Chicago and the 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair.

The Editors

Exhibition Study Group 2005 49

50 Exhibition Study Group 2005

Another new 1924 British Empire Exhibition Map published by Kennedy Northand printed by Dobson Molle & Co., Ltd.

After lying dormant for two years we have another new map turning up within a few months of recording No. 35, bringing the new total up to 36. If anyone wants a print out of all the 36 types of map drop me a line and I will do one for you.

Contents of different panels on Map number 36.

I. Advert for British industries Fair 1924. Without printers reference number, 11 mm between box and ‘For fuller’ etc. seven lines of text measures 38 mm deep, with an additional ‘Thomas Cook & Sons’ advert at the bottom in three lines.

K, L, M & N Picture of the Imperial Stadium and text on the British Empire Exhibition. The headings of the paragraphs are, Variety and Colour, The Tomb of Tut, Monster Military Tattoos, and An Empire Parliament.

S. Advert with two pictures and text by the “Metro”.T & U. Advert with map and text by The “Metro” Route to the Exhibition.V. Advert with two pictures and text by the “Metro”.

Report on our 19th Convention at Ramada Hatfield.by

Alan Sabey

This years Annual Convention was held at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel at Hatfield over the weekend of 24th and 25th September.

At the Annual General Meeting Don Knight of 2, Crescent Rd, New Barnet, Herts EN4 9RF was elected secretary in place of Bill Tonkin who had decided to stand down after many years in the position. There were three vacancies in the committee and Bill Tonkin has replaced Mike Perkins, with the new Web Master Ken Rumsey joining the committee as well as Fred Peskett. The meeting heard from the Treasurer Alan Sabey that the group is in a very sound financial position with assets of £9,000

It had initially been decided to hold the 2006 Convention at the same Venue, but John Greatrex with contacts at the Crystal Palace Foundation offered to make arrangements there for the 2006 Convention, thus marking the 70th Anniversary of the fire on 30th November 1936 which totally destroyed the Palace which had existed since the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. Since 1854 its home had been at Penge.

Bill Tonkin offered to look after the archives of the Group and to record its contents.Don Knight is lending material from 1851 to 2000 for an exhibition to be held at Church

Farm Museum, Hendon. Fred Peskett is arranging one about Paxton’s Palaces at the Portsmouth City Museum, and Fred Peskett and Bill Tonkin have been working on a book of the post cards of the Crystal Palace which is to be published by the group next year.

The Group offers its congratulations to member Jeremy Watson for his competitive entry in Stampex of a tour round the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley entered in the Social Philately Class where he was awarded a vermeil medal.

Once our Annual General Meeting was over, the main part of our weekend started.Don Knight showed slogans advertising the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, plus

opening day covers, correspondence bearing the publicity labels, the Post Office demonstration cancelling machine card as well as many sepia and coloured picture post cards.

Ron Trevelyan showed cards and labels connected with the Crystal Palace including the 1911 Festival of Empire. We saw the Victorian achievements stamps showing the Palace and the Albert Memorial (recently restored) where the prince is depicted holding a catalogue of the 1851 Great Exhibition which was his brain child. A cover commemorating the Envelope making machine at Hyde Park was on show as well as British Industries Fair items.


One of Fred Peskett’s loves is the Festival of Britain, and he showed photographs taken by visitors. By their very nature they are one off items and often capture views not seen on the official postcards.

Bob Tough dealt with Opening Ceremonies and Royal Occasions. The first was the opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria where a Chinaman appeared on the scene. Because he was in National Costume everyone assumed he was there officially and he stood very close to the Queen. It transpired that he had a boat on the Thames! 1924 was the first time that the voice of the monarch opening an event was heard over loud speakers and the wireless. In 1951 King George VI declared open the Festival of Britain from the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral on 3rd May 1951 and it was opened to the public on the next day. Bob’s talk ended with events at the Dome for the Millennium.

Ray Goodey attending for the first time showed items from his British Empire Exhibition collection with advertising from home and abroad, slogans for the events and publicity labels

Bill Tonkin concluded the first days talks with a slide show of the Ballymaclinton collection and research carried out by the late George Ithell whose archives were bought by the Group on his death several years ago.

John Marriner opened the batting on the Sunday morning with a comprehensive display of mail from the Air Post Exhibition of 1934, followed by mail carried on various airmail routes around the globe.

Alan Sabey showed recently acquired items including one triangle publicity slogan for the British Empire Exhibition at the Half penny Printed Paper Rate. These are undated so an arrival mark from its destination in Denmark in October 1922 proved that it was one of the first items advertising the exhibition through the mail. Two post cards were included from the Tuck Colombo series, posted on the opening day of the exhibition proving that such cards of views of the country concerned (Ceylon) were available from that pavilion on the first day. Also shown were recently issued silver ingots for the Wembley 1d stamp and the Postal Union Congress £1 stamp taken from an unaccepted design by Harold Nelson for the Wembley Stamps.

John Greatrex also attending his first Convention talked about the Crystal Palace which until 70 years ago stood at Penge and he included a piece of glass from Osler’s Crystal Fountain which had also moved from Hyde Park with the building.

Don Knight brought the morning to an end with a further display on the philatelic side of the Festival of Britain.

After lunch most members made their way home having enjoyed a good weekend with convivial company and fine and varied displays.

Wembley display to the Welsh Philatelic Society.

On the 23 of April Alan Sabey gave a display at the Meiford Village Hall to the Welsh Philatelic Society, to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the opening of the British Empire Exhibition and the issue of the stamps. His first display concentrated on the build up to the stamp issue with die proofs, imperforate at one edge varieties, coil bands, stamps from vending machines and the famous 1925 imprimatur.

The second display concentrated on the postal advertising from the Empire countries from Australia to the Turks and Caicos Islands. There were examples from Australia where the postal publicity was used between the exhibition dated and into 1925. Very few countries publicised it in 1925.

It was a whole day event with a lunch at mid day on the premises and the displays by members of the Welsh Philatelic Society in the afternoon.


Post Card Publishers.

By a coincident, suddenly out of the blue everybody seems to be sending in articles on Post Card publishers, Alan Sabey was the first with some information on John Beagles. Alan over the last few years has got interested in family history and one of his relations found this information on a Lincolnshire Genealogy Website. This was closely followed by Fred Peskett with an article on Raphael Tuck. At about the same time I was browsing through Anthony Byatt’s book ‘Picture Postcards and their Publishers’ which is in my opinion is about the most informative book ever published on post cards. In it he mentioned that Evelyn Wrench had written an autobiography ‘Uphill, The First Stage in a Strenuous Life’ covering the period that he became one of our largest dealers, starting when he was only 17. I thought it might be interesting and Paul Embleton a book dealing friend of mine was able to get me a copy from Australia.

John Beagles.by

Alan Sabey

John Beagles was born about 1844 at Whaplode Drove, deep in the Fens of South Lincolnshire. His father also John was a butcher, and in the 1861 census John junior was still at home with his family. In the 1881 census he was at 40, Chippenham Rd, Kilburn, Middlesex and in the 1901 census he was at 9, Rockley Rd, Hammersmith. He had never married.

The Business Directory of London for 1884 shows John Beagles, at 109, Cheapside London E.C. Photographic Publisher. We know that by 1903 he was trading from 9 & 10, Little Britain E.C. which is near St. Barts Hospital and St. Paul’s Cathedral. John Beagles died in the Hammersmith area (probably Rockley Rd) in 1907 age 63.

In 1908 company became a Limited Company and ceased to trade just before the second World War.

Raphael Tuckby

Fred Peskett.

Many collectors will know a publisher by name, some may even collect cards published by a certain manufacturer, but what is the background behind the name? Here is a potted story of the Raphael Tuck company, one of the most prolific publishers in the post card, greeting card and fine art publications in the country.

Raphael Tuck was born on the 7th August 1821 at Koschmin, East Prussia. Not much is known about his early life other than he married Ernestine Lissner when he was 27. By 1859 they had six children and had moved from Koschmin to Breslau where their seventh child was born.

The Prussian war with Denmark and the Austrian war convinced Raphael that he needed to move his family to a safer location, so he emigrated to Britain early in 1865 and set up in London as an estate agent. His wife and family joined him in late 1865. The Tucks were adventurous and in 1866 they decided to form their own business by opening a picture framing and art gallery in Union Street, Bishopsgate, London. After three successful years they moved to a larger shop at 177, City road. Raphael turned his artistic talents to producing and publishing black and white lithographs, oleographs and colour chromolithographs. Their sons Adolph, Herman and Gustave joined the business with Herman and Adolph drumming up trade by travelling and Gustave taking charge of the London dealings.

In 1871 Raphael produced his first Christmas Cards and published his coloured scraps which were to become very popular. By 1880 the company was well known throughout the world. Adolph Tuck had a flair for innovation and enterprise. In 1880 he arranged a competition nation-wide to design a Christmas Card with a top prize of 500 Guineas. Well over 5,000 entries were submitted, as well as the winning design some £2,500 was paid to other artists for their works giving the Tuck company many years of designs to work with.


Adolph Tuck also designed and registered the famous ‘Easel and Palette’ trade mark in 1880. The following year Raphael decided to retire. A partnership was formed by the three sons and the business expanded to Coleman Street. Adolph, following the success of the Christmas Card competition went on to form the Tuck Literary Competitions which were also very successful. During the 1880’s and 1890’s the House of Tuck continued to expand with branches opening in Paris and New York. The Company was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by Queen Victoria in 1893 for the publication of the Queen’s Letter to the Nation on the death of the Duke of Clarence. A Royal Warrant has been awarded by each Monarch since.

Ernestine Tuck died in 1895 and Raphael’s health began to fail. A new Head Office building at Moorfields in the City was to be built, Raphael laid the foundation stone on the 4th April 1898. The building was named Raphael House and was formally opened on July 6th 1899, but in the March of 1900 Raphael died from influenza aged 79.

Adolph Tuck continued to expand the firms sales with fine art reproductions, picture post cards and greetings cards. Their first picture post card was published in 1894 and featured a view of Snowdon, as a sales gimmick this was on sale by the Mountain Guides to visitors to Snowdon.

It was a Post Office Regulation that one side of a post card was to be devoted to the address and the postage stamp only, any message had to be included on the side with a pictorial view, and this had to be within a card of a maximum length of three and a half inches. Adolph argued for four years with the Post Master General to change this to a larger size. In 1896 the Post Master finally agreed to a larger size.

In 1901 Raphael Tuck had become a public company with a capital of £500,000. The Board of Directors, Adolph Tuck, Chairman and Managing Director, Gustave Tuck, Vice Chairman and Director. Herman Tuck, Arthur Conan Doyle and Alfred Parsons A.R.A. were also on the board.

The sons of Adolph, Reginald and Desmond joined the company in 1910, also in this year Adolph was created a Baronet and became Sir Adolph Tuck. In 1912 the company produced a poster stamp known as the Charles Dickens Centenary Stamp, this was for fixing to the front page of Dickens books, all the proceeds went to a fund for the novelist’s dependants.

During the First World War Reginald joined the Army, while Desmond was seconded to the French Air Force, then to the Royal Flying Corps and then, when it was formed into the Royal Air Force. After the war the brothers returned to the family business and during the next decade revived the old custom of sending Saint Valentine Cards which coincided with their Diamond Jubilee in 1926. Sir Adolph died in July of that year with his title being passed to Reginald. Gustave Tuck became Chairman and Managing Director with Sir Reginald and brother Desmond as joint Managing Directors. The publishing and printing of Fine Art books, post cards and greeting cards continued to flourish until the Second World War when a very heavy air raid on London during the night of December 29th 1940, Raphael House took a direct hit and was reduced to an empty shell. Desmond had entered the blazing building but only managed to retrieve the Royal Warrants.

Under the foundation stone of the burned out building they found a broken glass bottle, however, the contents had survived the fire and included early greetings cards, a catalogue, copies of the Times and Daily Telegraph dated April 5th 1898, a gold sovereign and a half sovereign a five shilling piece and some other coins. The archives going back 74 years had been destroyed. Business was carried on in several small locations in Appold Street, E.C. and Cromwell Road S.W. At the end of the war things gradually returned to the fortunes of pre war days. In the late 1940’s Tuck’s purchased a major share holding in the Northampton based printing company Clarke & Sherwell Ltd. A new London Head Office was built and opened in the West End of London.

Sir Reginald Tuck died in 1954, Desmond was now the only surviving member of the Tuck family. He retired in 1959. In 1962 the shares of the Raphael Tuck & Sons Company were acquired by Purnell & Sons Ltd. Paulton, Somerset. In turn the group became member firms of the British Printing Corporation. Production of the business was now carried out at Purnell’s factory at Warminster, Wiltshire, with the Head Office at Paulton House, Shepherdess Walk, London, just a short distance from the location of Raphael and Ernestine’s first London shop.

In the late 1960’s yet another fire, this time at the Warehouse in Warminster which destroyed the Tuck Archives including all the negatives used for the 1951 Festival of Britain post cards published by the company. We now have to thank the dedicated post card historians for their


painstaking efforts in researching and putting the flesh back on the bones of companies that produced post cards such as Tuck.

Sale of Exhibition Ephemera.

Neil Robson of 119, Heythrop Street, London. SW18 5BT. Telephone 020 8874 6341 has some Exhibition Books and Periodicals for sale. If members are interested in any item please contact him and allow for a bit extra for postage.

National Geographic Magazine (US) June 1958. Contains an article and site plan relatingto the Brussels Worlds Fair 1958 £2

National Geographic Magazine (US) April 1965. Contains an article entitled ‘Worlds Fair in New York re-opens £2

Daily Graphis & Daily Sketch 4th May 1951 Front page headline reads ‘The Festival Opens’ £2

L’Illustration (French) 4th May 1935. Photographs and article relating to the inauguration of the Brussels World Fair 1935. £5

L’Illustration (French) 29th May 1937. Massive special issue celebrating the opening of the Paris Worlds Fair 1937 £10

‘Dawn of a New Day’ The New York Worlds Fair 1939-40 (New York, The Queens Museum 1980) Catalogue for a retrospective exhibition that ran from June -November 1980. £5

‘The Exhibitions Great White City Shepherds Bush, London 1908-1978’ by Donald R Knight. Signed copy. £2

‘San Francisco Invites the World’ The Panama-Pacific International Exposition 1915 by Donna Ewald & Peter Clute (Chronicle Books 1991) £5

‘Farewell Colonialism, The New Zealand International Exhibition Christchurch 1906-07’ byJohn Mansfield Thomson. (Palmerston (NZ) Dunmore Press 1998) £5

‘The World of Tomorrow’ by Larry Zim, Mel Lerner & Herbert Rolfes. The 1939 New York Worlds Fair (New York, The Main Street Press 1988) £10

‘Penrose Annual’ A Review of the Graphic Arts (London Lund Humphries, 1952) contains anumber of important articles and photographs relating to the Festival of Britain. No dust jacket. £20

‘The New York World’s Fair, 1939-40’ (New York, Dover Publications, 1977) A collectionof 155 photographs £10


S. O. S.by

Bill Tonkin.

No, my soul is not in need of saving. S.O.S. stands for Sorting out Snapshots.I have been spending my retirement from the onerous duties of Secretary in delving into the

strange affairs of the packets of Snapshots. You know what I mean, those little boxes or folded cartons of usually 12 small Snapshots that most of the postcard publishers manufactured and sold in addition to their post cards. I expect you are all like myself, you see them at a fair, buy them if the price is right, take them home, look at them once, and put them away in a box or drawer and never look at them again.

When Mike Perkins and myself did the update of our Wembley Book last year we included Snapshots and did some limited research into the contents of the packets and it became obvious to me that here was a subject that would repay going into later, in some depth. At the time we listed the various types of packets but did not go much further into the subject than that. Now that I have virtually stopped going to post card fairs I have the time to enjoy my collection and really getting to know my various sidelines. Over the years I have accumulated a lot of the packets published by firms like Beagles, Fleetway Press, Tuck’s, Valentine’s and Wildt & Kray. I recently had the opportunity to greatly increase my collection, and this started me looking at the packets in much greater detail than I have done before.

I am sure the loose set of Snapshots came from this type of packetwhich is the only type with titles printed on the backs.

I am fortunate in that some issues I have had eight or nine of the same issue of packet to check. I should at this point thank both Mike Perkins and Alan Sabey who have generously loaned me their collections, without which the research would not have been possible. When you come to examine the contents which all look the same at a quick glance, what a wealth of variety there is. To a person like myself who has always been attracted by varieties from the normal, this has proved a fascinating field. They have everything so dear to my heart. The same view, sold and packed by the same firm, in the same carton, can be found with different clouds in the sky, there are redrawn and repositioned numbers on the snapshots, some times large numbers were redrawn in a much smaller size, and not just reduced in size but written in a different hand. To my surprise Valentine on one series of cartons went to the trouble of carefully scratching out the numbers on the negatives, so they cannot be read, although under a glass traces of the numbers can still be seen. Why did they start by putting numbers on the snapshots and then go to considerable trouble deleting the numbers we shall never know.


S.O.S as I have explained at the beginning can mean many things, one is a plea for help, and it is in this context that I need some help. I am sure a member has the answer, if only I can persuade him or her to turn off the box, and go and look through their snapshot packets.

The query is about Valentine’s snapshots of the British Empire Exhibition. They sold the sets of 12 snapshots in four types of folded carton. The cartons had a title in bold letters much larger than the rest of the printing on the front of the carton. The headings were 1. ‘British Empire Exhibition. Wembley.’ 2. ‘Valentine’s Snapshots’, 3. ‘Wembley’, and 4. ‘Wembley Exhibition.’ I have got stuck on type 2 ‘Valentine’s Snapshots’. The heading is printed in two lines of very large letters nearly half an inch high. This particular carton comes in three types, and all have ‘Titles on the reverse side of the photos’ printed on the carton. The snapshots from the other types of cartons all had plain backs.

A. Has plain edges or sides to the carton, and contains only 1924 titles.B. Has ‘Wembley’ printed on the side and contains some 1925 titles.C. The third has ‘Wembley No. 2’ printed on the front and on the sides, this also

contains some 1925 titles.Valentine cheated a little bit as their 1925 cartons contained mainly 1924 views already

issued in 1924, with just the title changed. For instance, Burma Pavilion was changed into Schweppes Pavilion.

My problem is that I have a loose set of snapshots which I bought as a complete set, although there are in fact 13, which is one too many, all with titles printed on the back which means they have come from a ‘Valentine’s Snapshots’ carton, and my set contains several 1925 titles not included in the three cartons A, B or C, or in fact any Valentine carton. I suspect there is a missing carton possibly with ‘Wembley No. 1’ printed on the side. Has anyone got this carton of snapshots in their collection, if so, would they please get in touch with me as I would like details of the carton also a list of the titles. I shall then know which 12 of my 13 snapshots are a set. The titles of my 13 loose snapshots are as follows,

Boating Pool, Wembley Canadian Pavilion, WembleyCeylon Pavilion, Wembley Gold Coast, West African Section, WembleyH.M. Government Building, Wembley Indian Court, WembleyIndian Theatre and Pavilion, Wembley Malaya Pavilion, WembleyOld London Bridge, Wembley On the Lake, WembleyRailodok Bus, Wembley Schweppes Pavilion, Wembley

South Africa, Wembley

While some of these titles appear in other Valentine cartons, the snapshot titled ‘Gold Coast, West African Section, Wembley’, does not appear in any other packet as far as I know.

This is the title printed in manuscript form on the back of the Snapshot.Which carton does it belong to ?

One thing that has come to light is that the snapshots and the printing on the cartons of two of the publishers, Fleetway Press and Wildt & Kray are absolutely identical. I suspect that Wildt and Kray was the actual printer and they supplied Fleetway who were the sole concessionaires


Reproduction of the British Empire Exhibition Edition of ‘Metroland’.a note by

Alan Sabey.

While in a branch of Waterstones Alan noticed a new book which is a reproduction of the British Empire Exhibition Edition of ‘Metroland’. It was published in 2004 by Southbank Publishing in conjunction with the Museum of Transport, London. It is a hard back and the ISBN is 1 904 915 000. This may be of interest to those who do not have a copy of the original.

New Email addresses.

Alan Sabey [email protected] Osborne [email protected]

The Donald G. Larson Collection.

For many years the Henry Madden Library of the California State University, Fresno has been a subscriber to the Exhibition Study Group, and has on their shelves one of the few complete run of our Journals. Their interest in Exhibitions was stimulated when it acquired in 1971 the Donald G. Larson collection of World Fairs and Exhibition material.

Larson was a man of many talents, roles and interests, a retired history instructor, political commentator, world traveller, raconteur, epicurean host and wedding cake specialist., but his one lifelong passion is World’s Fairs. Ever since he attended the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco as a young boy in 1940, he has been fascinated by world’s fairs in all their permutations. While in college at UC Berkeley he started collecting world’s fairs material and thus began his collection which kept growing by leaps and bounds until one day he realised he could no longer store and care for all of his beloved materials.

He looked to the Special Collections Library at California State University, Fresno to take on the challenge of housing, protecting, expanding and publicising his collection. Since that time , the Special Collections Library has made the Donald G Larson collection 1841 - 1940 a top priority, adding to the collection continually and ensuring that it is available to researchers from all over the world. Considered the biggest and best world’s fair collection on the West Coast, the Donald G Larson collection seeks to move forward with an ambitious project to digitise more than 8,000 photographs and post cards in the collection and to make them searchable and available to everyone on the Web. The collection contains approximately 5,600 official guides, books and pamphlets, 950 pieces of sheet music, memorabilia, and other materials from 197 different fairs held between 1851 and 1940. At present there are no research grants available but plans for a permanent endowment may make them possible in future. The Special Collections Library will be moving into new quarters in 2008 with more storage area, state of the art equipment, and a specially designed reading room and exhibit area.

For a complete list of the fairs on which we collect, please see our Web site at www.lib.csufresno.edu/subjectresources/specialcollections/worldfairs. The site also includes lists of all the photographs, post cards, and videos in the collection. All the books in the collection will eventually be accessible through the online catalogue, which is available through the libraries home page at www.lib.csufresno.edu. There is a comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources available on the Web. See “International Exhibitions, expositions Universelles and World’s Fairs 1851-1951 a bibliography” at www.theo.tu.cottbus.de/wolke/eng/bibliography/expobibliography.htm or www.lib.csufresno.edu/subjectresources/specialcollections/worldfairs/bibliographies.html.


Post Cards of the White City.Part 33.

by Bill Tonkin

Court of Arts.

Altogether Valentine’s published 15 post cards titled ‘Court of Arts’, this does not include titles such as Court of Arts Gardens, or Court of Arts (North). They were not all published for the Franco-British Exhibition five were and because so many of the cards were not numbered a picture and type number with a brief description is given to help identify them. The same type numbers will be used for all the exhibitions.

Type 1. A pre exhibition forerunner, three Type 2. A pre exhibition forerunner, twovisitors standing on bridge, island to left visitors standing on bridge, island to right of bridge. of bridge.

Type 3. A pre exhibition forerunner, the Type 4. Not numbered, a wide path goingonly vertical card, Palace of Women’s diagonally from bottom left to middle of Work seen through colonnade. right


Type 5. Not numbered, wide path on right Type 6. No. 108. Bridge in middle foreground leading to Flip Flap in distance behind with a swan boat at the far right.pavilion, gardens on left.

Type 7. No. 227. Swan boat at the bottom Type 8. No. 252. Bottom half of card is of centre. flower beds with a ‘Sutton’ sign.

Type 9. No. 462. Launch under bridge, Type 10. No. 551. Wide path on left, gardensFine Art Palace at top left. on right, with Flip Flap in background.

Type 11. Also numbered 551. Wide path on Type 12. No. 552. Gardens on left, wide left, gardens on right, without Flip Flap in path on right, Palace of Women’s Work onbackground. far right.


Type 13. No. 716. Electric launch at bottom Type 14. No. 721. Looking straight down left. lawn and gardens, Palace of Women’s

Work on left.

Type 15. No. 830. Gondola at bottom at left of centre.

The five ‘Court of Arts’ cards published for the Franco-British Exhibition are listed as types 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Of these three of them were pre exhibition forerunners listed as type 1, 2 and 3, type 3 was the only vertical card and was titled ‘In the Court of Arts’.

Type 1. A pre exhibition forerunner, three visitors standing on bridge, island to left of bridge.Court of Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908. (A pre exhibition forerunner.)

B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre.

B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, deep green ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre.

B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre.

B/W litho, grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in one line at top left.N.n. Title in one line at bottom left, with different clouds.

B/W litho, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in one line at bottom left.

Coloured, grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in one line at top left.

Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ back type FB 1.N.n. Title in one line at top left. This is also known printed on a very thick card.

Sepia R/Photo, black ‘X L’ back type FB 11.N.n. Title in one line at bottom centre.

Type 2. A pre exhibition forerunner, two visitors standing on bridge, island to right of bridge.


On this card ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ on the front can be found in three types. Some cards were published without the imprint, some have the imprint in two lines in a horizontal position, and the imprint can also be found printed at an angle.Court of Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908. (A pre exhibition forerunner.)

B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an

angle.B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, deep green ‘Throughout the World’ back

type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an

angle.Coloured, dark grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in one line at top left, without ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’.Coloured, grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in one line at top left, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’.Coloured, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in one line at top left, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’.Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ back type FB 1.

N.n. Title in one line at top left, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’. This is also known printed on a very thick card.

Sepia R/Photo, black ‘X L’ back type FB 11.N.n. Title in one line at bottom left, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an angle.

Type 3. A pre exhibition forerunner, the only vertical card, Palace of Women’s Work seen through colonnade. In the coloured cards there are at least seven different cloud types. On this card ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ on the front can be found in three types. Some cards were published without the imprint and are listed as ‘without Valentine’s Series Copyright’, some have the imprint in two lines in a horizontal position, listed as ‘with a horizontal Valentine’s Series Copyright’, and the imprint can also be found printed at an angle, listed as ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright at an angle’.In Court of Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908. (A pre exhibition forerunner.)

B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, dark grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in two lines within the picture at bottom left, without ‘Valentine’s Series

Copyright’. Vert left.B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’

back type FB 2.N.n. Title in two lines at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an

angle. Vert left.B/W R/Photo, ‘red seal’ back type FB 1.

N.n. Title in two lines at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an angle Vert right.

B/W R/Photo, black ‘X L’ back type FB 11.N.n. Title in two lines at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an

angle Vert right.Coloured, grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in two lines at top centre without ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’. Vert left.N.n. Title in two lines at top centre, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’

Vert left.Coloured, bluish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in two lines at top centre, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ Vert left.

Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ back type FB 1.N.n. Title in two lines at top centre, with a horizontal ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’

This is also known printed on a very thick card. Vert left.

Sepia R/Photo, black ‘X L’ back type FB 11.N.n. Title in two lines at bottom centre, with ‘Valentine’s Series Copyright’ at an

angle Vert right.


Type 4. A wide path going diagonally from bottom left to middle of rightIn Court of Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.

B/W litho, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in one line at top right. This card is also known with the title missing, and

does not appear to be a detached half of a panorama card.B/W litho, greenish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in title in one line at top right.

Type 6. Bridge in middle foreground, Palace of Music in background.Court of Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.

Coloured ‘GIANT POST CARD’, grey ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 17.108. Title in one line at top left.

For other large sized post cards see under Giant post cards.For other post cards of this view see in the Imperial International Exhibition section, under ‘Court of Arts’.

Court of Arts from Congress Hall, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.Double width Panorama type card, on the back the right half has a printed post card back while the

left half is blank. B/W litho, black ‘Throughout the World’ double width back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in two lines at top left on the left half of the card.Coloured, brown ‘PANORAMA’ back type FB 20.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the right half of the card.Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ double width back type FB 1.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the right half of the card.For other cards of this type see under Panorama.

Court of Arts from Fine Arts Palace, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.Double width Panorama type card, on the back the right half has a printed post card back while the

left half is blank. Double width Panorama card, on the back the right half has a printed post card back while the left

half is blank. Very often the halves become detached, and are mistaken by collectors for normal cards. They can easily be recognised as the left half has only part of the title ‘Court of Arts from Fine Arts Palace, Franco-British’, while the right half has the rest of the title ‘h Exhibition, London, 1908.’, and a blank back.

Coloured, grey ‘PANORAMA’ back type FB 20.N.n. Title in one line at top centre of the double width card.

For other cards of this type see under Panorama.

Court of Arts from Lake, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.B/W R/Photo, black ‘X L’ back type FB 11.

227 Title in two lines at bottom left.Sepia litho, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in two lines at top left.Title altered to, View from Imperial Terrace, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.

Sepia R/Photo ‘GIANT POST CARD’, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 18.227 Title in two lines at bottom left of centre.

For other large sized post cards see under Giant post cards.B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.

N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre.B/W litho, sunk plate with large white border, bluish grey ‘Throughout the World’ back

type FB 2.N.n. Split title in one line at bottom centre.

B/W litho, black ‘Throughout the World’ back type FB 2.N.n. Title in two lines at bottom right.

Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ back type FB 1.227 Title in one line at top left. This is known with and without a stop after 1908.

For other post cards of this view see in the Imperial International Exhibition section, under ‘Court of Arts’.


Court of Arts Gardens, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ back type FB 1.

254 Title in one line at top centre.

Court of Arts, (North), Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908.Double width Panorama type card, on the back the right half has a printed post card back while the

left half is blank. B/W litho, black ‘Throughout the World’ double width back type FB 2.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the left half of the card.Coloured, red ‘F B seal’ double width back type FB 1.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the right half of the card.Title altered to, Court of Arts, North, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908. (‘North’ without

brackets)B/W litho, greenish grey ‘PANORAMA’ back type FB 20.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the right half of the card.B/W litho, grey ‘PANORAMA’ back type FB 20.

N.n. Title in one line at top right on the right half of the card.For other cards of this type see under Panorama.


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