Immortality on the cheap
Here’s a fun game on a rainy day. Go to eBay (you can go to .com, but I think .uk is more fun). Search for collectables/postcards. Refine your search to “used“.
Voilà — you hear dead people.
The one in the picture is of Brighton Pier. The message on the back is “have not seen many of these about, have you.” 1903, I think.
Or how about, “Meta[?] wants me to say that the Bishop is going to be consecrated on St Paul’s Day in Westminster Abbey but she is not certain if she will be able to go up with you for it, as probably a houseful is coming that day. She will be very sorry if she cannot as she would v. much like it. With love from T.B.H. We have had a yet better account of Auntie.”
Some of the most interesting are too illegible to transcribe properly. On a Valentine: “A love letter. That is what. Annie said good bye.” It was neither signed by nor addressed to Annie. It was never sent.
Posted: February 3rd, 2016 under personal.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 4, 2016, 1:37 am
My oldest granddaughter was born on Valentine’s Day, so in addition to her birthday card and presents, I started sending her vintage valentine postcards, purposely choosing ones that were 100 years old from the current birthday year, and always decorated with violets, the traditional flower for February (but also the traditional flower for lovers until the Rose Lobby wrecked everything). I don’t know how much she appreciates them, but I enjoy searching for just the right valentine. The second granddaughter was born in May—so I look for vintage valentines with Lily of the Valley on them.
Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: February 4, 2016, 8:45 pm
I have a real fascination with glimpses of the world from 100 years (or so) ago. I have a set of children’s encylopedias basically from roughly 1890, although my set is an updated version from approximately 1914/15 as there are some airplanes and submarines included. Anyhow, the set is chockablock with photographs of people doing their jobs or generally going about their lives- dirty-faced miners with eyes as big as plates from the “flashbulb”; a Belgian who has a giant dog to pull his milk cart; tiny, skinny Japanese people; rope makers in long long stalls braiding the stuff by hand. Everyone’s hair is a mess, and most everyone would benefit from a bath.
Then, there’s a section in each volume that answers questions that typical children ask. My favorite: Will a man ever walk on the Moon?
The carefully considered answer: No. The explanation:
There is no air on the moon to breathe, and anyhow, any cannon big enough to shoot a man as far as the moon would smash him flat when you fire it.
Another paradigm shift since then: Nature’s perfect food: Sugar. Perfect because it is 100% energy. Oh, and give your children all they want because their bodies will know when they’ve had enough.
Comment from mojo
Time: February 4, 2016, 8:53 pm
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Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 4, 2016, 9:52 pm
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I have an even older one-volume encyclopedia, Some Veg. It’s still packed somewhere, but I think it was early 19th C. It was all question and answers. The ones that got me were about graveyards — why they smelled bad and what will o’ the wisps were. Escaping gases of putrefaction, of course.
I guess those old pine coffins were leaky.
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