Thursday, December 3, 2009

Godt Nytt År

This New Year's card appears to have been sent in 1908.
Although this is a Swedish card, the spelling for Happy New Year is the Norwegian spelling, not the Swedish spelling, which would be Gott nytt år.
Maybe someone can clarify this...and provide a translation. There is so much text; I'd love to know what it says.
UPDATE - September, 2010
Thanks to Postcrossing member, Kjell, from Sweden, we have a translation. Here's what Kjell has to say:
Godt nytt år (Happy New Year) is Swedish but written in the old spelling!
Picture side, at the left;
You can write a letter and tell me how nice it is there. We haven’t had any snow here yet so it does not look like Christmas. Do you have any snow in America?
On the right side;
I don’t have anything more to write this time xxx  Karlsson is at my place, he is asking for a greeting. It was that man who was at the train. Writing this in a hurry. Gunnar Best greetings to Georg.
Address side;
Wishing You a Happy New Year. As you can see I’m sending you some one-hundred crown bank-notes as you well need. I hope you have had a fine Christmas. Are you still working at the mines, it’s a hard work. I do wonder why you take so long time before writing to me. I have sent you 2 postcards. Have you got them. It’s very hard to find work. I have got a longing for America.
Some lines to the left are difficult to read!

By the way, Kjell has a website too; check it out here: Kjelle's hemsida

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Catch On - A Mutoscope Card


This is not actually a postcard; it's a Mutoscope card. A Mutoscope was an early penny arcade motion- picture device. You would insert your coin and look through the stereoscope to see rapidly moving cards that gave the impression of motion - perhaps a woman getting out of a bathtub, or a view through a keyhole of a woman getting undressed. There were  other subjects on the Mutoscope, including baseball, boxing, and comedy, but the female figures seem to have been the major attraction. The Mutoscope operated on the same principle as a flipbook. The whole show consisted of about 850 cards - or about a minute's viewing.

Mutoscopes were originally manufactured from 1895 to 1909. The early Mutoscopes used black and white silver-based photographic prints. There was a revival of the Mutoscope machines, with new machines and reels being produced between 1926 and 1949. Mutoscopes were still popular in U.K. amusement parks until 1971. In England, Mutoscopes were commonly called "What the butler saw" machines, because many of them showed views through keyholes of women undressing. They were, however, very tame by today's standards.

Mutoscope cards such as this one were sold as souvenirs for about two cents each in the 40s. They are blank on the back, as they were not intended to be postcards, although sometimes they were used as such. In case you want a Mutoscope machine for your living room, you can occasionally find vintage ones in antiques stores; they range in price from $3,000-$8,000.

This card is part of the Festival of Postcards, hosted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault. This month's theme is "white." To view other postcards in the festival, click here.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Chateauroux, France



What I love about the old French postcards is that they often include scenes of daily life, people going about their daily business. I feel as though I'm looking through a window to the past. Chateauroux is located in the Centre region of France, south of Orléans, along the Indre River. The town is named after the local castle built toward the end of the 10th Century and currently has a population of about 49,000.

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