The Official Railway Postcard Book

John Alsop published his seminal listing of known railway official postcards back in 1987 and we have now acquired the last remaining copies. In the late 1890s, a number of the pre-Grouping British railway companies jumped on the bandwagon that was the postcard collecting craze by issuing postcards themselves for promotional purposes. By the start of the First World War, almost all of them had joined in, from the mighty L&NWR and GWR, whose sales of cards ran into many millions, to minnows like the Bideford, Westward Ho & Appledore and the Freshwater, Yarmouth & Newport railways. Some of the cards were quite plain, others illustrated some of the brightly coloured posters issued by a company, some featured scenic views of the areas served with no direct railway interest in the picture and some were from other publishers but overprinted on the reverse for correspondence purposes between the railways and either commercial enterprises or the general public. Whilst the author subsequently issued a series of booklets updating many of the listings, this first publication remains the most complete list ever published of this myriad number of cards published. Although printed in black & white, it contains illustrations of a significant number of these cards. As the number of copies left is small, do not delay if the subject is of interest. The book will never be republished and no one else is ever likely to attempt anything similar in the future.

The Official Railway Postcard Book - Sample Images