Linda’s Monthly Monday Morning Moaning’s:
Arcadia’s ‘Postcard History Series’ was a step in a different direction for me after the previous three books, I have written. But I found it was a direction I really enjoyed going toward. My interest in postcards, especially vintage cards, does not go back as far as my interest in history or photography does, but it blends the two interests very nicely. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about the subject of collecting postcards, which it turns out has a very immense following.
The Postal Act of May 19, 1898, provided for the extensive private production of postcards to measure 3.25 by 5.5 inches in size. Messages could only be written on the portion set aside on the front where the images were located. The back was reserved “exclusively for the address”. After March 1, 1907, the law specified that messages could be written on the back of cards. Cards of the new style were called ‘divided back’ because of the vertical line, to the left of which a message could be written, and with the address on the right. ‘Undivided back’ cards remained in the inventories of shops for many years, and now they are very collectable.
The most difficult part of working on this book, was coming to the realization that there were lighthouses, very important lighthouses that did not seem to have any postcards printed of them. Today, you would find cards printed of probably every light you could imagine, vintage lights seemed to be a different matter altogether. There were diffidently some that did not have postcards to use, hence the use of some vintage photographic images would be necessary to include these important lights in the book.
If this book cover seems different, it is! I found that as the book was nearing completion I was not comfortable with the images that we had decided on for the front and back cover, when the decision had been made early on in the process. My concern came in with a Michigan image on the front cover. It seemed not quite as ‘inclusive’ as maybe putting a Michigan postcard on the back and using a postcard from one of the other states to highlight the front. I requested we change the images, and find this set up much more appealing and fitting. This book covers lighthouses in eight states, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
So now, the postcards have been collected (many, many postcards), the research has been done (lighthouses have such a huge abundance of material about them), the writing is completed (after removing 3000 words over my limit) and the numbering of 227 images is finally correct and in order (thank heavens), now it’s time for Arcadia Publishing to works it’s magic and put my work and idea into book form, with the expectation of an early August publication date.
Sadly, just a couple of months before this book was finished my editor Angel who had been with me through all three previous books, moved on to a new job, and while I can’t thank her enough for her remarkable way of working with new authors, it was her guidance and help that made this a really great experience and help to make these books something I could be very proud of. I thank her and wish her all the success and good luck she well deserves to come her way.
Over the next few months, I would like to write about some of the stories I found during my research. About the lighthouse keepers and families and the life they lived while tending these lonely, isolated lights.
On that ‘wee note’ till next month, Monday March 7th.
Thank you to Q. David Bowers and Mary L. Martin for ‘A Guide Book of Collecting Postcards’.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 