David Allen & Sons Ltd., London, Harrow, Belfast &c.

A postcard by the artist Hassall was produced by the Duke of York’s Headquarters saying “Citizens of, or those connected with, the Overseas Dominions are eligible as recruits.   Further information can be obtained from the Adjutant to whom communications should be addressed.”

H. Alwin, London. Series 110

Not much is known about this small London publisher.   His cards bear great similarity to those of other publishers such as Vedy below.

The cards below, although anonymous, are similar, or in some cases identical, to both those published by Alwin above, F C Morgan and Vedy.

Andrew & Sleigh Ltd

The following cards were published for the “1st Middlesex Royal Engineers (Volunteers). Headquarters: 67, College St., Chelsea S.W.”

T. & R. Annan & Sons, Glasgow

This series of ‘Miniature Reproductions of Famous Etchings’ is included for interest as it includes many views by Whistler.

Aurora Publishing

Aurora is a modern (c.1990) publisher and their series Historic Sights of Old London includes:

A & H Aymotte, Battersea

A solitary numbered (and sometimes anonymous) real photograph was published across the river by A & H Aymotte originally of 72 Battersea Rise, but later at 126 Latchmere Road, SW11.   In 1930 the firm - now just H Aymotte - moved away to 548 Commercial Road in Portsmouth, Hants:

The Badger Press, Westbury, Wiltshire

Drawn by Nick Charlesworth in 1981, a pen and ink drawing of the Chelsea Palace King’s Road

J. Beagles & Co., Ltd., E.C.

A major London publisher of real photographic cards included the following in their extensive range:

Bell, Pickard & Co., Ltd., London E.C. - “Finsbury” Series

Included a charming set of six coloured cards with a Chelsea Pensioner theme in their Series 1550

Boots Cash Chemists “Pelham” Series

Boots “Pelham” Series published an enormous range of postcard views across the realm.    This set of 12 cards of Chelsea (including three cards of Battersea Park, which miraculously has crossed the river to become part of Chelsea) is typical of their production.

Albert Broom, 36 Burnfoot Avenue, Fulham

Albert Edward Broom was born in Chelsea in 1864 and married (also in Chelsea) in 1889 to Christina Livingston; together they became very much ‘local’ publishers and cards under the BROOM imprint are all real photographs and are hard to find.   He died on 21 January 1912 aged only 47 and his widow Christina carried on the business and did not die until 1939; we are fortunate indeed, therefore, that her daughter Winifred made a list of much of her output and bequeathed many of the glass negatives to the Museum of London, where they may be seen.    Only the Chelsea cards are noted below.   Certain of the plates with R. prefixes were later sold to and the cards re-issued by Johns and other local publishers.

E. Brown, 7 Walton Street, SW

Nearly every card of Brown’s derives from an original real photograph published by E. Hammond, 173 Brompton Road, SW (H); another appears to have been published by Johns (J)

W. B. Buchanan, Chelsea

Nothing is known about Buchanan of Chelsea; I include the only known card by him - and it’s not even a view of Chelsea, in the hope that more research may provide more information; it is a strange card of a woman wearing a hat and apron, pushing down the street a wheelbarrow piled high with wicker baskets presumably containing herring:

The card I have is dated 9th March 1912 and was sent to Mrs Buchanan c/o Mrs Hadgood in Wimborne, Dorset; the message reads “Many thanks dear for your nice letter & pretty card to Father. We are so glad you are having such a delightful visit to your old friend. Of course I shall be very glad to go to the mother’s meeting on Monday. Excuse only a card. Will is nailing up the vine and I am just setting out to do some shopping. We all send you our love including Iago - I am looking forward to seeing you soon - B.”

Douglas Burrage, Oakley Studios, Chelsea

Enterprisingly published an outline map of Chelsea upon which purchasers could mark their location with a bold X and give other travel information

Anon - C

A nice series of anonymous real photographic cards is characterised by rather foggy sepia tones and numbers preceded by C:

The Carlton Tower, Cadogan Place, SW1

Published their own artist drawn card:

Carlyle’s House

Over the years several distinct sets of cards of Carlyle’s House were published for sale to visitors, many sharing the same image, but distinguishable by the card backs.   The earliest were a set of six undivided backs and are characterised by the imprint beside the picture “From . . CARLYLE’S HOUSE. Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London, S.W.”.   These were followed by two sets with the imprint on the back “From CARLYLE’S House, 24, Cheyne Row (Formerly 5, Great Cheyne Row), CHELSEA, S.W.” - one (slightly earlier) in a larger typeface than the other.    Real photographic versions are known to exist of some of the images, but anonymous on the back.    Later still appeared some ‘Frith’ style versions of the same images, some with the imprint “British Manufacture.” forming the divider.   After the second world war Photochrom took up the challenge and published cards from new real photographs bearing a number of differently detailed imprints, but all essentially “Published by Country Life Ltd. Printed by Photochrom Co., Ltd., Tunbridge Wells - A Property of The National Trust”.

Chaucer Publishing Co., 62 Chaucer Rd., Herne Hill, SE

Chaucer seem to have specialised in the production of a characteristic series of multi-view “Greetings from....” postcards of London localities.   The twelve multi-views appear to have been specially commissioned for each card.   They later moved to 129 Railton Road, still in Herne Hill, and produced another similar series of “Picture Gems of....” often re-utilising photographs from other publishers.

Chairman Cigarette Series

Published a set of cards entitled “Old English Pottery and Porcelain” of which two (number 2 & 21) feature Chelsea items

Chelsea Flower Show

Postcards of the Chelsea Flower Show, starting with the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition in May 1912.

The Chelsea Hotel

A modern promotional card of the Chelsea Hotel, showing nearby retail outlets:

Chelsea Old Church

A set of possibly six cards with a distinctive frame appear to have been published anonymously for the Old Church:

The Chelsea Publishing Co.

A set of artist drawn cards by T. Binney Gibbs dated 1925 and printed by The Talbot Press (Richard Wood), Saffron Walden:

The Chelsea Society

In about 1960 The Chelsea Society published their own series of postcards, mainly photographs of old prints but some contemporary views too:

Chelsea Stationery Stores, 207 King’s Road, SW

A nice little set of real photographic cards were published by this retailer; the following titles are known:

A Ciardo

Colourmaster International

The brand name for Photo Precision Limited, St Ives, Huntingdon, Colourmaster is a major publisher of modern postcards, being especially active during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.   Many cards are anonymous, but distinguishable by the prefix PT to the card numbers.

Edwin Cook, 319 Fulham Road, SW

Edwin Cook must be counted within the top three of publishers of Chelsea postcards.   His prolific output of top quality real photographic titles makes his cards most collectable; in addition a handful of scarce non-photographic cards of his are equally sought after.   In later years a number of his plates were sold and the postcards re-published under the Sidders Series imprint.    Most of his cards of Chelsea Hospital were published in a letter and number series; these are listed first followed by the rest in alphabetical order.

Culpeper Ltd

Published in 1984 for the Chelsea Physic Garden a set of cards:

The Cynicus Publishing Co., Ltd., Tayport, Fife

No place would be complete without its Cynicus cards:

Anon - D714/1225

Nothing is known for sure as to who published this nice little set of six platesunk real photographic cards, but one of the views is the shopfront of Wright & Sons, Printers, 43 King’s Road:

Daneshill Brick & Tile Works, Ltd., Basingstoke

A single promotional card of their products is entitled:

Davidson Bros.

This prolific national publisher naturally included at least one card by Tom Browne with a Chelsea theme:

T. Dawson

T. Dawson published a splendid shopfront of his establishment entitled:

C. Degen, London

Carlo Degen was born in Germany in 1871; he set up in business publishing postcards in 1895 and by 1901 he was living in Chislehurst, Kent, with his young London (Brixton) born wife Elsa.   He published exclusively top quality real photograhic views of London.   During the 1914-8 war, he would either have been interned or would have returned to Germany.   After the war his cards reappear in his distinctive style, sometimes anonymously, until continuing under the imprint “C. & A.G. Lewis Limited, Nottingham” in either their Colonial Series or, less frequently, their Robin Hood Brand.   Later still a new series was produced by “Charles Skilton Ltd., London S.W.19 (Incorp. C. Degen, Estd. 1895)” and, later still, this series was continued in the 1950s by A.V. Fry & Co.., London.    For convenience the complete picture is represented in the table below:

J. Arthur Dixon, Ltd., Newport, IOW

J. Arthur Dixon started publishing “Natural Colour Photogravure” postcards in the 1960s, later merging to become part of the Dixon Robinson Group, when the card numbers began to be prefixed with “L6/”.   The following cards of Chelsea have been noted:

R. A. Dunn, Kennington

Rather a mystery as to why Dunn should have published this solitary, but splendid, real photographic card:

Eagle Aerophotos Ltd., Reading

English Life, Tel:01-993 7268

The English Riviera, Vaughan Parade, Torquay

Published an extra large postcard promoting the 16-18 June 1989 Chelsea Flower Show and also their later display at Abbey Park, Paignton Sea Front between 20th June and 15th September 1989.   The display [of topiary] features Alice in Wonderland as seen by Torbay’s Arts and Recreation Department; the magic fairytale of Lewis Carroll’s characters all in living plants and included varieties of Pyrethrum, Alternathera and Sedum.

Eversheds, St. Albans

Excel Series

Nothing is known at present about this national publisher of postcards which was active between about 1935 and 1955.   I know of only two, or possibly three, of their local Chelsea titles - all real photos, although there may possibly be a full set of six or more of the cards from Carlyle’s House.   These latter are from the same photographic negatives as used by Photochrom for the Country Life series of views of Carlyle’s House.

C. W. Faulkner - Series 144 “Views of Chelsea”

A set of six cards published in an envelope by a big national publisher.   Only the envelope bears the publisher’s name - the cards themselves are strictly anonymous.   Each sepia card however is distinctive enough to be recognisable by the following text above the message section:

The Fine Art Studio, London W1

Published two foggy views of Battersea Bridge:

H. Flack, 315 Kings Rd., Chelsea, S.W.

This newsagent stocked a large range of postcards, published by many different firms including Photochrom and others, under whose names they will be found listed.    He also published a set of 6 cards of his own under the printer’s imprint D.32/750:

Gordon Fraser Gallery Limited

During the 1960s this small publisher, primarily of greetings cards, produced several series of postcards of Chelsea.   The earliest series was designated AA06 and comprised about 14 real photographic views; this series appeared later under the imprint LCHL, but some of the titles were renumbered differently.   Two sets were produced specifically for Chelsea Old Church - one in B/W, the other in colour.   Another set appears to have been produced for Carlyle’s House.

F. Frith, Reigate

Francis Frith was a prolific publisher of local postcard views across the length and breadth of the kingdom and still in business today.   Postwar they published a series of Chelsea views centred around Sloane Square; the cards were in three styles: coloured; real photographic full frame with a deckle edge (suffix F); and real photographic with white border (no suffix).   They also appear to have published cards in their characteristic style for others, such as Carlyle’s House.

A.V. Fry & Co., Ltd., London

The output from this publisher will be found at C. Degen, London