As part of the site redesign, I've migrated the W.G. MacFarlane section to its own subdomain. This will make adding new content to this publisher easier in the future.

I'm trying to break the site redesign into bite-sized bits, and to do so, I'm spinning off parts of the site to separate subdomains to allow for easier workflow. At the moment, I'm opening those separate subdomains in new windows, in case you wonder why a new window opens. Later, once the site is up to date, I'll try and run it in a single window.

In this instance, I've spun the Franz Thiemer—Compagnie Comet cards into a new subdomain, with you can open by clicking here.

I've been using what has become over the last couple of decades, somewhat creaky old software to author this website, so using an old computer to make sure I can still maintain the site has become more onerous as the years go by. As a result, I've been experimenting with new software to try and make the maintenance of the site easier. I've just finished one small subset of the site using that software, and put it online. That update incorporates The Albertype Co.'s cards, which have been residing on a subdomain of this site for the last decade. It's not quite what I want, so I may do some more refining before I roll it out further.

You can open that new design in a new window by clicking here.

I’ve added a new section to this website that lists the first of possibly several articles that I hope to post as PDFs over the coming months, offering some additional detail beyond the material already shown on this site. The first article looks at Toronto Litho’s Canadian Cities series of postcards, including the first iteration, which I’ve called Type 1, issued in 1898, and the second iteration, which I’ve called Type 2, issued in 1899, but more commonly found used from 1901 onwards. I’ve added a second PDF that covers an of overview of the balance of the company’s postcards.

Some additional cards of a couple of small Toronto publishers, J. Ed. Terryberry and the Canadian Photo-Engraving Bureau, have been added.

A series of additional postcards published by Franz Thiemer's Compagnie Comet, mostly postally used from 1898 and 1899, have been added from a number of countries, including Egypt, East Indies, Burma, Siam, Japan, The Philippines, Australia, Norway, and Russia.

I've posted my first and only card in a pioneer postcard series by Toronto Litho Co. Ltd. The series is nicely represented in the second edition of Ken Elder's A History and Directory of Yukon Postcards 1897—1942. In that book, Ken Elder shows 5 cards in that series, each with similar Dawson-City Greetings text, and a back modelled after the second Canadian UPU postal stationery card issued in 1896. My particular card is not postally used, but Ken's cards date back to October 5, 1899.

An unused copy of Toronto Litho's Canadian Sports Series has been added, illustrating the port of football.

A new pioneer postcard from Franz Thiemer's Compagnie Comet has been added, one of four cards from Manila, from numbers 126 to 129, issued during the American occupation after the colonial war between Spain and the USA for control of some of Spain's former colonies. Click on the image to see more of this series.

Another card has been added from Toronto Litho's Canadian Sports Series. Click on the card image to see more.

Another card from Toronto Litho's Canadian Sports Series has been added, showing the two activities of bathing & wheeling. The card has been written on, but not postally used.

This update adds card 5 in E Wrench's "Links of Empire" series, posted at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the 1901 visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall en route to Australia. This card illustrates the map of the Royal Visit travels on the outbound leg of the journey.

A couple of additional Franz Thiemer cards with scenes from North America have been added, one showing a scene of the Three Sisters in Canmore, Alberta with the caption, "Greetings from America". The card has been postally used May 31, 1899 from Niagara Falls, USA, to Greussen, Germany. Also added is a Compagnie Comet advertising card from 1898 advertising the subscription to the series.

Some additional cards from this “Links of Empire” series by E. Wrench, illustrating stops on the tour by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, specifically card no. 10 from Melbourne Australia, and card no. 13 from Ascension, have been added.

A second update with some additional cards has been added. A further minor update was added May 23rd, 2022.

The 1901 Royal Visit series has been expanded by the addition of some postcards, both Canadian and British.

I’ve added an early card showing an inset RPPC image of the main street of Medicine Hat, NWT, with several people in front of J.K. Drinnan’s Dry Goods & Groceries general store. The card is postmarked Dec. 23 1899 in Medicine Hat, ASSA—the earliest card I’ve encountered from this series. While not confirmed, the card may be part of a series published by Atkinson Bros.

Some additional Franz Thiemer cards have been added, including from Egypt, China, Birma and Denmark.

A couple of new Franz Thiemer Greenland postcards, one postally used in 1899, have been added to the site.

An assortment of additional cards published by Franz Thiemer, dating from 1898 to 1900, from countries including including Turkey, India, Burma (Myanmar), Japan and Sweden, have been added. I still haven’t cracked posting many of the European cards, but will at some point.