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 & Sons was probably the most prolific and diverse publisher of classic Disney postcards. All the Valentine Disney postcards are made from high quality, thick card stock. Shared images with Ballerini & Fratini. (See my observations on this subject on that page). If you are looking for the cut-out numeral birthday cards, they are shown in a separate section of this catalogue, since they are not postcards.
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.
Donald
VA351
VA352
VA352a
VA353
VA354
VA355
VA356
VA357
VA357a
VA358
VA358a
VA359
VA360
VA360a
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