WriteAntiques

The introduction of the lithographic process and other improved printing techniques meant that by the 1850s, beautifully illustrated multi-coloured Christmas cards were winging their way around the country by the sackful. Why not collect them?

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It wasn’t much to look out, but the little round lapel badge we found lying in the bottom of a box of knickknacks at our local collectors’ fair had a fascinating background.
About the size of an old sixpence, the badge was decorated with blue enamel, picked out of which were the initials W. L. […]

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It might not sound very romantic, but today’s collectors of Victorian and Edwardian printed ephemera should be grateful to the manufacturers of Liebig’s “Meat Extract”, or Oxo as it was later reincarnated.
Founded in 1868, the company soon realised the importance of good marketing and promotional material and until 1975, they published an astonishing array of […]

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Standing knee deep in mud, deprived of sleep and waiting for the next whistle to go over the top are images we recognise as being part of life in the trenches, but what our fathers’ fathers endured in the Great War, we cannot imagine.
That was two generations ago. I wanted to bring to this column […]

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&Britain was at war and we stood alone against the might of Nazi Germany. Food and petrol were rationed and laughs were in short supply … unless you were on the receiving end of a saucy seaside postcard like the ones pictured here. And in the 60-odd years since they were printed, their humour is […]

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Perhaps it’s because as a junior reporter, I was indentured to a newspaper publisher who was also a jobbing printer.
Perhaps it’s simply because my writing for this column gets turned into reading, so to speak - smart pages with attendant images that are easy on the eye and (hopefully) worth something more than a cursory […]

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The Salvation Army will benefit from the auction of thousands of forgotten comic books after a chance discovery by workmen called in to clear a warehouse in the North West of England. The sale is set to produce a substantial cash windfall for the charity.
To their amazement, […]

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by Christopher Proudlove©Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

Poor St. Valentine. He probably never had a sweetheart of his own and he had absolutely nothing in common with lovers. He became their saint quite by chance. His story starts in Rome in about 271AD when the poor wretch was flung into prison for […]

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by Christopher Proudlove©Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

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What do you get when you walk under a friendly cow?A pat on the head.
What’s a dentist’s favourite musical instrument?A tuba toothpaste.
Jokes as bad as these - and worse - will spill out over dining tables across the land tomorrow when the nation […]

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by Christopher Proudlove�Espa�ol | Deutsche | Fran�ais | Italiano | Portugu�s

It’s 1947, you’re travelling First Class aboard the Cunard White Star flagship RMS Queen Elizabeth and dinner is served. For starters, it’s oysters on the half shell, followed by clear turtle soup, turbot for the fish course and timable of ham. The roast sirloin of […]

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Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Portuguêsby Christopher Proudlove©
Imagine what life would be like without paper - no rubbish-strewn streets for one thing. From plans for buildings and ocean liners to folding money, paper has played a vital role in shaping almost every aspect of the world we know today. Interestingly, all of […]

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Wright Crossley trade cardOriginally uploaded by Christopher Proudlove.
by Christopher Proudlove©
Perhaps it’s because as a junior reporter, I was indentured to a newspaper publisher who was also a jobbing printer.Perhaps it’s simply because my writing for this column gets turned into reading, so to […]

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Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Portuguêsby Christopher Proudlove©
These are tumultuous times. In the space of a few days we have buried a Pope, Brtitain’s future King (and Queen?) have married, thousands of car workers face losing their jobs and we are in the midst of a general election campaign which has all […]

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