Recently I was asked by a collector from the USA – she has discovered TPA via this website – if I would live for printing sample cards and trademarks only. Well, no I don’t.

Being an offset printer by professional, it has surely influenced my picture postcard likes and dislikes. I really admire some of the old, meanwhile forgotten printing techniques, what people back then have created without electronic assistance as nowadays.

But I do also appreciate well arranged and photographed views. Sometimes I also keep cards and cannot really tell why. Here comes now a small selection of my ‘favourites’.

Pig sitting at the table having lunch – would you like to have a pig as neighbour at table? Odd promo card design, this with imprint of ‘Restaurant zur Germania’, Prop. Ernst Staigle, Feuerbach (next to Stuttgart, Germany). Good kitchen, lunch, pure wines and ‘Wulle’ beer... Not p/u, coloured halftone. Card no. IV of series 462 by?

Girl and Boy wearing clogs, probably Dutch motif. Fisher boats in background. Like the chicken showing interest in the doll on the ground. Name of paiting, artist, publisher (MJS?) covered under heavy handwriting. P/u. 1918, Switzerland

Dresden, Main Station. A fine photographed view. Collotype printed and also published by famous “Roemmler & Jonas” from Dresden, Saxony. This firm was among the first to use the new constructed flatbed collotype presses. Most of their massive postcard output is today unfortunately often underrated.

I prefer photographic (topo) views rather the lithographer drawn and arranged cards. Despite the album corners it is a nice card. Mailed from Dresden to Belgium in July 1899.

Previous shown Arthur Thiele card is replaced by a Belgium artist with ‘Bizuth’ signature (and not “Bizeth” as I and others had thought). Bizuth was the alias of Hubert Olyff (1900-1977), engineer, business man, political artist. A well done chromolithography (by “Capry” from Brux). The artist added a ‘46`to his signature = 1946 I believe. This view carries the number 1, caption (French / Dutch / English) reads “Don R’s” in occupied Germany. Reprints of this series were done using offset process by “l’Electrotypie de Genval”, Belgium.