The Appeal of Early Advertising Postcards

Mike Smith

For the past six weeks or so I’ve had the pleasure of helping specialist collector Jack de la Vergne with his latest handbook, Graphic Art and Design on Advertising Postcards. To say the least, de la Vergne’s deluxe publication literally showcases more than 600 of some of the most attractive postcards ever printed (see Figure 1). As I flipped through page after page of beautiful images mostly scanned from his own collection, it reminded me of why I started collecting postcards in the first place. Namely, for most of my life I’ve been a big fan of 19^th and early 20^th century colour printing, especially the posters, greeting cards, menus and other richly coloured items produced during the Art Nouveau period in Europe, the US and Japan (roughly 1890–1910). So the multi-coloured gems published during the postcard’s classic era in Canada (1895–1919) were right up my alley.

1. Maple syrup and maple butter are advertised on this beautiful circa 1907 postcard published by Maples Ltd., Toronto and Buffalo.

Another one of the terrific postcards in de la Vergne’s book is shown as Figure 2. Here, a mundane product like soap is advertised on this spectacular card published by the St. John Soap & Desk Co. of Saint John, New Brunswick. This colourful item, which is from the Steve Hilditch collection (see vintagepostcards.ca for more Hilditch treats), is collectible on multiple levels. First, it has an undivided back (no message allowed on the stamp side) and what looks to be the special flag cancel used by the post office during the 1897 Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee celebrations. These features would certainly attract collectors of early Canadian private postcards. And there’s no doubt that those who collect advertising media in all of its forms would love to own it as well. In addition, patriotic postcard nuts (like me!) would be smitten as soon as they noticed the Canadian Red Ensign among the other national flags in the upper margin. 

1. The St. John Soap & Desk Co. promotes “Madame Allen’s Beauty Soap” on this multi-coloured 1897 advertising postcard.

Another terrific patriotic advertising postcard from de la Vergne’s book is shown as Figure 3. Here a group of Canadian soldiers, mobilizing to support Great Britain during the South African (a.k.a. Boer) War (1899–1902), is featured in an advertisement for “Oliver Equipment.” The card’s publisher was the Toronto Lithographing Co., and its image was from a watercolour by renowned Canadian artist A. H. Hider (1870–1952). Important artists like Hider, J. D. Kelly and C. W. Jefferys were employed by the Toronto Lithographic Co. and others to provide artwork for the various products marketed by contemporary printers and publishers. So in addition to the lavish use of colour in the printing process, there was genuine artistic talent behind many of the advertising postcards published during the classic era. One final comment about Figure 3 that will be of interest to collectors – it also comes without the fancy Christmas message in the upper right corner. In fact, I had the non-Christmas Oliver Equipment card in my collection for years before discovering the Figure 3 version.

1. A. H. Hider was the artist responsible for the colourful artwork on this 1899 Toronto Lithographic Co. postcard advertising Oliver Equipment. 

A brilliantly coloured advertising postcard of Toronto’s Hotel Carls-Rite is another delightful item from the de la Vergne book (see Figure 4). This card, with its national flag frame, has a clone that advertises a sister hotel, Toronto’s Walker House. These two fancy hotel cards were among the first patriotic postcards I picked up when I switched from philately to deltiology in 1981. Another interesting feature of the Figure 4 postcard, which also shows up on the Walker House version, is the four redacted national flags in the frame. So in order to have a complete set of the Hotel Carls-Rite and Walker House advertising duo with this design, both the normal and redacted versions would be required. In other words, you need to collect four different postcards. For the record, the redacted national flags on these cards include Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey. These countries were part of the Central Powers during the First World War (1914–1918) so this indicates that the redacted versions were printed on or after 4 August 1914.

1. This very fancy Hotel Carls-Rite advertising postcard with its redacted Central Powers’ flags indicates that it was issued on or after 4 August 1914.

Finally, de la Vergne’s wonderful handbook will be available at a “show special” price at the 43^rd annual Toronto Postcard Club (TPC) Show, which is just around the corner (Sunday, 23 February 2025). As in previous years, it will be held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on 6 Sakura Way (formerly Garamond Court). Hope to see you there!