WHAT’S NEW... & Reviews 

Update 14a:

31 December 2011

Update 14a: What’s new?

NEW: Mostly minor additions and corrections due to limited time. Another Mehner & Maas logo added which appears to had been used only occasionally on Egyptian issues. – Working on a new issue of ‘The Postcard Album’ now. See below for more details. – It is impossible to please each and everyone with the content of this web site. Anyway, if you have something postcard related you would like to see on this site, please let me know. Thank you!

New research projects / content of new TPA issue: Ernest Nister, Nuremberg: How to identify Nister printed cards, eg those they printed for T. Stroefer / company history. – Wezel & Naumann, Leipzig and their early co-operation with famous British Tuck’s publishers. – Mimosa, Dresden, the photo paper trust and their business relationship (control of) with picture postcard publishers/printers. – Visit to Egypt: a contemporary article by a British businessman visiting Egypt in 1906. – with some info on major Egyptian ppc publishers then

Inquiries on trademarks and other postcard matters: Please allow some extra time for an answer from my side. “I have reached my limits”. Thank you. – Please understand that I am not in the position to give any advice on the worth of any old postcards, prints, books or where to find a particular item.

A ‘Happy New Year’ to all postcard collecting enthusiasts worldwide! Discovered this unusual design with a jester (?) greeting a snowman. Signature illegible. Published by B.K.W.I. = Bruder Kohn Wien (Vienna) I as series/card 2683-3. Mailed from Germany on 30 Dec 1906 to Anvers, Belgium.

Reviewed by Alan Drysdall RDP, RDPSA, FRPS.

This is a meticulously researched account making extensive use of primary sources of information which is evident from the extensive bibliography of a fascinating short period in the history of the colonisation of southern Africa. In order to overcome a labour shortage, Chinese indentured labour on three year contracts was employed on the gold mines of the Rand from 1904 to 1910. The total number of Chinese recruited exceeded 63,000, but the scheme had limited success as recruitment proved difficult and expensive, the living conditions were basic, not all the men were prepared to work underground and there were inevitable further problems arising from endemic gambling habits, opium addiction and the almost complete absence of women. There were also objections at a political level, particularly by the Liberal Party in the UK, with much talk of slave labour, hence the comparatively short life of the scheme, which was eventually terminated by the Transvaal Government. The author lists systematically, according to the publisher, just over a hundred cards, more than half of which are illustrated in colour, showing various scenes involving the Chinese including individual portraits, the ships used to transport the men, groups working on the mines, living conditions and aspects of Chinese culture. Although arrangements were made for a mail service only 11 covers sent from China to the Rand have been recorded and are briefly described. No covers sent to China are known. For those interested in the social philately of southern Africa, this book is a “must have”.

Published 2010 by the author, no ISBN, A4 format, stapled. Available from the author, c/o 9 Meadow Road, DA11 7LR - see also www.transvaal.org.uk/JWA.html  price £12.50 inclusive of postage in UK / £15 surface post elsewhere.

by Philip E. Robinson & Stephen P. S. Yen

This new book is based on a series of 90 postcards that a Frenchman, C.E. Tanant (a keen philatelist), sent home to France from a journey made in the early summer of 1903 from Paris to Shanghai. Tanant had previously become a senior official to the Imperial Chinese customs service, and after his return to China in 1903 he was able to give advice on the opening of the Siberian mail route to and from China. A large number of the postmarks on the cards are of station or travelling post offices, including many of the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern railways. This makes the collection of postcards of particular interest to the postal historian, the cards forming a unique documentation of a journey made at a time when the Trans-Siberian postal route was just becoming available for international mail. ...

Although a number of interesting cards from several countries are illustrated, this book does not focus on the “purely” picture postcard collector. As said above it is a rich source for postal historians as well as philatelists interested in the countries covered. For example there is an own page with circular Russian Postal wagon date-stamps appearing on C.E. Tanant’s postcards. Illustrated are 87 picture postcards plus some others, always both sides. Plus maps of the Trans-Siberian Railway routes etc. An interesting ‘cross-over’ book indeed, and well printed in full colour, too.

PS: Philip Robinson has already previously published works under the title “The Trans-Siberian Railway on Early Postcards”.

Published August 2011. ISBN: 978-988-98961-9-9. 32 pages sized B5 (260 x 185 mm). Price: £12.50 in the UK, £15 elsewhere post free by airmail, directly from Philip Robinson. For details on payment transfer best contact Philip first: probin391@aol.com