Scottish Postcards

Although picture postcards had been popular for

years in other countries, their production in Britain

was retarded by the insistence ofthe Post Office

that only the official plain postcards could pass

through the posts for a halfpenny. Privately printed

postcards were charged postage at the letter rate

of one penny. In September 1894 the Post Office

removed this restriction by fixing the postage on

all types of postcards at the same halfpenny rate.

The first commercially produced postcards to show

views of Scotland were placed on sale a few weeks

later by an Edinburgh firmof printers, George

Stewart and Co., and during the early years of the

new century many other firms, including Valentine

and Sons Ltd., of Dundee, and Millar and Lang Ltd.,

of Glasgow, were publishing picture postcard views.

These made cheap and appropriate souvenirs

of cycle rides as well as of railway day-excursions

and summer holidays. Soon almost every stationer,

newsagent and tobacconist inthe kingdom was

offering a selection of local views, and almost every

middle-class home had its picture~postcard album

sharing, with the Bible and the aspidistra, the table

in the front-room window.

Estimates place the number of picture postcards

then being sold in Britain at about ten million every

week, and it was not until the First World War

brought disruption of social life and an increase in

postage rates that the flood began to subside. The

impression of Scotland left by the picture postcards

in an Edwardian album is of a pleasant, peaceful

land. The photographer seldom made his studies in

the slums of Scottish cities and his camera best

recorded the sunlit countryside, the lochs, mountains

and tranquil villages on summer

afternoons.

Scotfamtree has a vast collection of Scottish

postcards(around 8000),some have been posted

on our forum on a daily basis.

Any member wishing to find a Victorian/Edwardian

scene of the  area in which their ancestors lived,can

contact me via the forum,and I'll do my best to find

an image for them.

We also have put together some Postcard

collections on disc.

These are for sale in our wee shop.