Classic Disney Postcard

The

Catalogue

Publisher: Valentine & Sons, Ltd

Country: United Kingdom (Dundee/London)

Publication Era: Late 1930s - early 1950s

 

Notes: The Valentine Company, a lithographic printing firm, was founded in 1825 in Dundee, Scotland by John Valentine. His son James became an early pioneer of photography and by the 1860’s his work was being reproduced by the Valentine Company as prints and stereo-views. After James’ death in 1879 his two sons, George Dobson and William Dobson took over the Company, but in 1884 George moved to New Zealand where he became a landscape photographer. In 1880 Valentine began producing Christmas cards and by 1896 they began printing postcards. Up until 1882 they had only published views of Scotland, but they began expanding into other tourist markets especially after their postcard business took off. Other offices opened in Jamaica, Medeira, Norway, Tangier, Canada, and New York. They produced a great range of view-cards that were mostly printed in Scotland in tinted halftone lithography or issued as real photo cards. In addition they produced a vast array of other products that held photographic images. All interests outside of Great Britain were sold in 1923. By 1929 they had given up their photo portraiture work to concentrate solely on postcard production. But they did not anticipate the public’s growing demand for colour cards and by the 1950’s their business was suffering. In return they put most of their efforts into greeting cards. They were purchased by John Waddington & Co. in 1963, which passed on to Hallmark Cards in 1980. Dundee operations closed in 1994. (Source: Wikipedia).

 

 

Valentine used various designs for the backs of their postcards

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1) - high gloss finish on the front, which causes the cards to curl slightly. The cards are not numbered.

VA001            Apr. 1939

VA002                1938

VA003                1939

VA004

VA005            Nov. 1938

VA006           Feb. 1939

VA007                 1938

VA008

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2) - same images as in the previous series. Colours changed on some cards. Bolder colours throughout. Some text omitted. Matt finish. The cards in this series are numbered.

VA009                                   4227

VA010         Aug. 1939           4228

VA011              1938              4229

VA012                                    4230

VA013           Aug. 1938         4231

VA014                                    4232

VA015                                    4303

VA016                                    4304

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (2a) - as previous series, with advertising for various popular seaside resorts. Other towns I have noted are: Margate, St. Annes-on-Sea, Bournemouth and Ilfracombe. No doubt there are more. Apart from the town name, the text is always the same. Not surprisingly, the 'Dopey' card was not used for this advertising campaign. Nor was the Snow White card.

VA017

VA018

VA019

VA020

VA021

VA022

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (3) - cards are not numbered.

VA023

VA024

VA025

VA026

Catalogue Nos 29 - 40 are reserved for future use.

VA027

VA028

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (3a) - at first glance, this series appears to be the same as the previous one. Take another look, they are different drawings. The spacing of the text is also slightly different.

VA041

VA042

VA043

VA044

Catalogue Nos 47 - 60 are reserved for future use.

VA045

VA046

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (4) - One of my personal favourites. An endearing series of beautiful images. Note: for the sake of aesthetics, I have not placed these in the order that they should be in.

VA062

Aug. 1938

4170

VA064

4177

VA066

Aug. 1958

4171

VA061

VA063

VA065

Aug. 1939

Aug. 1938

4174

4176

4173

VA067

VA068

VA069

VA070

Nov. 1942

Sep. 1938

4168

4169

VA072

Nov. 1939

4167

VA071

VA073

VA074

4302

4166

VA076

Jul. 1939

4175

VA075

Aug. 1938

4172

Catalogue Nos 77 - 90 are reserved for future use.

Pinocchio

VA091

VA092

VA093

VA094

Cat. Nos 97 - 115 are reserved.

VA095

VA096

Ferdinand the Bull (1)

VA116

VA117

VA118

VA119

VA120

Catalogue Nos 121 - 128 are reserved for future use.

Ferdinand the Bull (2)

VA130

4678

VA132

4680

VA129

VA131

4677

4679

Cat. Nos 135 - 140 are reserved.

VA134

4682

VA133

4681

Water Babies - from the Silly Symphonies series.

VA141

VA142

VA143

VA144

Catalogue Nos 147 - 150 are reserved for future use.

VA145

VA146

MerBabies - from the Silly Symphonies series.

 

VA151

Catalogue Nos 155 - 160

are reserved for future use.

VA152

VA153

VA154

Birthday Cards

Bambi - Birthday cards for the very young.  These six cards represent the complete series.

VA161

VA162

VA163

VA164

VA165

VA166

Birthday cards with embossed decorative borders (some-one please explain the meaning of 111/2MM)

VA167

VA168

VA169

VA170

VA171

VA172

Prophetic?

VA173

VA174

VA175

VA176

VA177

VA179

VA180

VA181

VA182

Catalogue Nos 184 - 200 are reserved.

VA183

Birthday cards with normal borders

VA201

VA202

VA203

VA204

VA205

VA206

VA207

VA208

VA209

VA210

Catalogue Nos 212 - 230 are reserved for future use.

VA211

VA231

VA232

VA233

VA234

VA235

VA236

Catalogue Nos 237 - 250 are reserved for future use.

Birthday cards with die-cut, coloured borders

VA251

Catalogue Nos 253 - 270 are reserved for future use.

VA252

Miscellaneous cards

I have grouped the following postcards according to the main character depicted.

Mickey

VA271

VA272

VA273

VA274

VA275

VA276

VA277

VA278

VA279

VA279a

VA280

VA280a

VA281

VA282

VA283

VA284

VA285

VA286

VA287

VA288

VA288a

VA289

VA290

VA291

VA292

VA293

VA294

VA295

Catalogue Nos 298 - 350 are reserved for future use.

VA296

VA297

Donald

VA351

VA352

VA352a

VA353

VA354

VA355

VA356

VA357

VA357a

VA358

VA358a

VA359

VA360

VA360a

VA361

VA362

VA363

VA364

VA365

VA366

VA367

VA368

VA368a

VA369

VA370

VA371

VA372

VA373

VA374

VA375

VA376

VA377

VA378

VA379

VA380

VA380a

VA381

VA382

VA383

VA383a

VA384

VA385

VA386

VA387

VA388

Catalogue Nos 393 - 450 are reserved for future use.

VA392

Mickey and Donald

VA451

VA452

VA453

VA454

VA455

VA455a

VA456

VA457

VA458

VA459

VA460

VA460a

VA461

VA462

VA463

VA464

VA465

VA466

VA467

VA468

VA469

Catalogue Nos 476 - 520 are reserved for future use.

VA474

VA475

Other Characters

VA521

VA522

VA523

VA524

VA525

VA526

VA527

VA531