Raphael Tuck and Sons Postcards

Ever since I started collecting postcards, I have included postcard paintings in my must-haves. When I saw Postcard 9528: Harry Payne's Nearly at the Top of the Hill in an antique shop, I immediately purchased it. Another reason I purchased the card is its size. It is smaller than any of my other cards, measuring only 5.5" by 3.5". I also took the challenge of gathering information about the painter, Harry Payne, the manufacturer, Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd, and what an oilette might be.
I first checked Wikipedia to find out who Harry Payne was. Unfortunately the site does not have any entry for the Harry Payne I am looking. A more thorough search on the internet only returned the following result (no other information found):

Henry Payne (1858-1927) is an artist from Catford. Harry was a prolific military artist. He also painted several series of Oilette postcards Raphael Tuck.

Wikipedia, however, does have a sentence long description of what an oilette is.

Oilette - A trade name used by Raphael Tuck to describe postcards reproduced from original paintings.

Postcard 9390: Harry Payne's The Road Past the Farm

Postcard 9528: Harry Payne's The Pond in the Lane

Postcard 9528: Harry Payne's Nearly at the Top of the Hill

I found information about the "Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd" company from several sites, which I have summarized below:

Tuck's Post Card

Raphael Tuck was born August 7, 1821 in Koschmin, a small village in Eastern Prussia (now Poland) and arrived in England with his wife, Ernestine Lissner, and seven children in 1865. In 1866 Raphael and Ernestine opened a small shop where they sold prints and frames. They also started publishing lithographs chromolithographs and all kind of printed novelties.

Registered Trademark

In 1880 the Company registered the trademark with the “Easel and Palette” along with the inscription “The World Art Service.” From 1881 on the Company name was “Raphael Tuck and Sons." In 1893 Queen Victoria granted the Company her “Warrant of Appointment” in recognition of the publishing of her letter to the nation on the death of the Duke of Clarence. Every reigning head would later honor the Company at least one time. That’s why their products are best dated by the reigning monarch they mentioned on most of their printing.

Royal Warrant of Appointment

Tuck’s Oilette cards were of a very high quality, looking like the real oil painting. He issued his first picture post card in 1894, with a small picture of Mount Snowdon in the upper left corner. The first series of numbered postcards was printed in 1898 which was a set of 12 lithographed vignette views of London, numbered 1 to 12 with the "Tower of London" being postcard #1.
On December 29, 1940 London was bombed and the Raphael House completely destroyed. After Desmond Tuck retired in 1959 the Company changed hands several times. They still produced high quality printing, but missed the ‘magic’.

SOURCES:Henry Payne, Artist
Oilette Wikipedia Entry

Postcard 1: Real Photo Postcard

I was rummaging a stack of old postcards in an antique shop when I came across this picture of a little girl. At first I wondered why it was included on the postcards and not on the pile of old photos that the shop also sell. Then I checked the back of the card and it has a divided back! I admit it was my first time to come across with this type of postcard.

I later found out that there was indeed an era where real photos were made into postcards! Per Wikipedia, in 1903 Kodak introduced the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak, which was designed for postcard-size film to allow the general public to take photographs and have them printed on postcard backs. They are usually the same size as standard vintage postcards (3-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Real photo postcard is also known by the acronym "RPPC".

I noticed that the flowers on the cards are colored. I later found out that some postcards during the era were often tinted or colored with great detail.

I also did some research and found a list of RPPC manufacturers. Unfortunately I couldn't find a match on the list with the manufacturer of my only RPPC. Below is the logo of the manufacturer printed at the front bottom part of the card. If anyone is familiar with the logo, please leave a comment. Thanks

Postcard 5: La Colonne des Girondins

Below is my first linen postcard. The "linen card" era lasted from about 1930 to 1945, when cards were primarily printed on papers with a high rag content. I had hard time translating the name of the monument (its in French and I don't speak the language) and finding its location. The back says "La Colonne des Girondins."

I later found out that the monument, The Girondists Column, can be found at the Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux, France.
Here are some interesting facts I found regarding the monument from Wikipedia and other sources.

The principal monument was erected between 1894 and 1902 in memory of the Girondists (political faction in France during the revolution) who fell victim of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The monument is 50 m high. The column was erected by Jean Achille Dumilatre and Victor Rich.

The monument is capped with a statue known as "Liberty Breaking the Chains." At the bottom of the monument are two fountains, "Triumph of the Republic" and "Triumph of Concorde". At the feet of the tank are horses with three men that represent Ignorance (shameful attitude), Lie (the mask) and Vice (pig ears). In 1943 fascists disassembled the column to take advantage of 52 tons of bronze. In 1983 the horses that were removed during the German occupation of France in World War II were re-erected with their bronze restored.

Postcard 10: Mainz, Strassenbrücke

Unfortunately I could not gather any information about the Mainz Strassenbrucke (street bridge) on the postcard. All I could find are some other pictures of the bridge posted on eBay with German description I could not understand. I have no idea if the bridge is still standing, or it had been blown up during World War II like other bridges in Germany.

Postcard 10: Bonn, Rheinbrücke

Rhine Bridge
I had trouble gathering information about the bridge on the postcard, which might be the Bonn Rhine Bridge. But after spending almost my whole shift, I found some limited (and sometimes confusing) information about the bridge's history. I just hope that the one being discussed on my source is the Bonn Rhine Bridge on the postcard. So anyone from Germany? I need confirmation for this one.
Below is the picture of the Bonn Rhine Bridge pre-WWII.

One outstanding event was the construction of the first Bonn Rhine bridge, which was officially opened 1898. The people of Beuel, annoyed because this link did not take their shipyard into account, did not contribute a single penny towards the project. Thus, the citizens of Bonn begrudgingly had to foot the bill for what was, at that time, the biggest arched bridge in the world. A manikin on the eastern pier, however, pointed his posterior towards the people of Beuel. During the Second World War, he disappeared along with the bridge into the river but was later recovered and subsequently replaced by a copy, which still points its "ragged-trousered backside” towards Beuel, which is today part of Bonn.

What happened during the Second World War is that Hitler had decreed that no bridges over the Rhine would be captured intact by the Allies and preparations were made to destroy the bridge to prevent capture. The Bonn Brdige was blown at 9:15 P.M., March 8, 1945, by a Captain of the 6th (German) Engineer Regiment (later captured by the First Division), who had not slept for three days worrying over whether he would be able to blow the bridge at precisely the right moment.
Here's some description on the new bridge: RHINE BRIDGE, COLOGNE-DEUTZ (1946-47)
* Combined road-streetcar bridge.
* First slender steel box girder replacing a chain suspension bridge destroyed during World War II.
* Spans: 132.1-184.5-120.7 meters, girder depth at piers 7.8 meters and at center of midspan 3.3 meters, corresponding to slenderness ratios of 1:24 and 1:56.
* Orthotropic deck with reinforced concrete wearing layer.
* Erection in large elements with heavy lifting equipment.

Too bad the pre-WW2 bridge is much more elegant!