During my blog hiatus my passion for collecting vintage imagery has not dwindled — actually I think my collecting might have escalated sort of like a placebo for not actually doing anything outside of work!

I uncovered this image at a local market a couple of months ago. It’s unusual to see a camera in shot used as a prop (and even more unusual to see a woman holding it!). It also has a stellar message on the back, one that immediately made me think of this poor neglected blog. I think it should read “Dear Blog” haha!

I can’t say what a “dirty dog” I feel whenever I think of you. I had the best intentions in the world of writing and have left my congratulations as late as this. To show there’s no animosity you can buy an expensive frame for this photo and hang it in the — I’ll leave that up to you where to hang it.

It’s a strange feeling being able to pinpoint the address this postcard was sent from (even stranger to stand in “street view”!)

Featured Gem 21
Real Photo Postcard

‘Good Luck Black Cat’

Date: 1909
People: Unidentified
Studio: Unspecified
Postcard Back: Blank

Notes: Such a great pose and fabulous costume! (From the same collection as Gem 16) This image is from a series of over twenty postcards from the same old album. Apparently there was a message on the front of the album that read: “To The Mayoress with H Jenkins compliments. 1909 A souvenir of the Childrens Fancy Dress Ball”. What a fancy dress ball it must have been!

I picked up this lovely old picture book in an opshop in New Zealand several years ago, just after getting off the ferry on the South Island. It’s in poor shape, tattered and torn, but all the pages are there and it is quite magical to look at! I am not sure the publication date but the handwritten message inside says:
“To Lucy from Uncle King June 28th 1892”

This is around the time my grandfather and his siblings were growing up in New Zealand, so it felt quite an appropriate find at the time as I was absorbed in hunting down some family history while I was over there.

If you’d like to see the entire book it’s free online via the International Children’s Digital Library. The other titles by R. Andre look equally intriguing! Warning, click at your own risk as you might get stuck looking at all the delights this website has to offer! The Internet is a wonderful thing.

We lost power on the weekend. At about 1am loud buzzing and zapping noises, big orange glow, sparks flying out where the street wires meet our house. Scary! Caitlin woke up terrified as she has developed a fear of storms and thought it was thunder (Even went to bed tonight still saying ‘no thunder?’ poor poppet). So by candlelight at 1am on Sunday morning I was making some of these hand shadow puppets on the wall complete with silly voices. She seemed to appreciate it, and it even got her giggling her adorable almost two year old hearty chuckle.

This old card is just smaller than A4 and has no details on it other than shown.

If you place your hands as shown in these pictures, and hold them in front of a light, their shadows will make the many creatures shown here.

I’ve had this little book for a while and have included it in my little Zine experiment but never blogged about it. The Ghosts of My Friends is a quirky variation on the traditional autograph book. This little copy, is completely full, most entries dated around 1918. Published by Dow & Lester it measures 10cm x 17cm. It was compiled by Cecil Henland and originally published around 1906.

When googling to find out more info (as you do!) I discovered I am not the only one to uncover this wonderful little object! See the fabulous Design*Sponge . There are also some super images of ghostly signatures over at How Now Brownpau.