From Gutenberg to the Cuneo Press

Johann Gutenberg is known as the father of printing. His use of movable type around 1439, combined with a wooden printing press, revolutionized printing and allowed the mass production of printed books. His major work was the Gutenberg Bible, also known as the 42-line Bible..

Chicago was a center for commercial printing, and The Cuneo Press, Inc. was once one of the largest printing companies in Chicago and the world. The Cuneo Press exhibit at A Century of Progress Exposition, held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934, was a workshop that was a replica of what Gutenberg's printing office might have been.

The second card shown above (front and back) is a 1934 souvenir card. The other cards are postcards dated 1933. Below is a short article about the Gutenberg Press exhibit from the World's Fair Weekly for the week ending September 16, 1934.

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King, Queen, and Crown Princess of Sweden Stamps

These postcards show stamps commemorating the royal wedding of of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommlath on 19 June 1976 and the "New Order of Succession" in 1980. Crown Princess Victoria was born on 14 July 1977 and is the oldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Her first place in succession formally went into effect on 1 January 1980 with the parliamentary change to the Act of Succession that introduced absolute primogeniture.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Dwight D. Eisenhower Stamp

Royalty is honored on stamps when the person is alive. In the United States, Presidents are honored on stamps only after the person has died. These two maximum cards have the 6¢ Eisenhower stamp that was issued on October 14 (Eisenhower's birthday) in 1969 (after he died earlier that year). The stamp was first placed on sale at Abilene, Kansas, where Eisenhower spent his boyhood and where he is buried.

The first card is a Colorano maximum card and shows a larger version of the portrait used for the stamp. The second card is a regular chrome postcard showing the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas which was dedicated in 1962. The Eisenhower Presidential Center includes the Library, Museum,  Eisenhower's boyhood home, and gravesite.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born October 14, 1890 and died March 28, 1969. He was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He had previously been a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Rainy Day -- University of Minnesota

 

Not surprisingly, there aren't very many postcards picturing rainy weather. This is a modern postcard (1990s?), but it is the only rainy one I can think of that I have in my collection. Rainy weather is usually seen in a negative light, especially when it relates to tourism. On this postcard of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, the photographer (© Bob Firth/Firth Photo Bank) has managed to make the rainy day look colorful and sunny. He has also captured activity with the blurry figure in the foreground.

When I decided to post this postcard, I was pretty sure it was the library on the middle of the East Bank campus. I began to have doubts, however, when I read the caption on the back: "UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. Coffman Union on the Minneapolis campus is a center of student activity."  Coffman Union is a center of activity, but this is NOT Coffman Union! It is actually Walter Library, which I confirmed by looking at my postcards of the Union and photos on the internet.

Here is a postcard of the real Coffman Union (ca. 1970s):

 

An here is a photo of Walter Library (source: Wikipedia):

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Abraham Lincoln Relief Sculptures

 

The  postcard above shows the various places Abraham Lincoln lived between his 1809 birth in Kentucky and his death in 1865. I am showing this card to give a context for the places depicted on the postcards of the relief sculptures below.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He led the United States through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crisis—the American Civil War—preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, strengthening the national government and modernizing the economy. (source: Wikipedia) 

Lincoln was born to  a poor family in Kentucky in 1809. He lived in Kentucky with his family until 1816. The next postcard shows one of the five bas-relief stone panels depicting major periods of Lincoln's life at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. This panel represents Lincoln's years in the state of Kentucky..

 

The next postcard shows the Lincoln Monument near Vincennes, Indiana. This monument depicts the Lincoln family moving from Indiana to Illinois in 1830 when Lincoln was 21 years old.

The last postcard shows the Lincoln-Douglas Memorial in Quincy, Illinois. This plaque marks the site of  the sixth debate between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln 1858. The Lincoln–Douglas Debates of 1858 were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the Senate in Illinois, and Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. The main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery.

The texts of the debates were published in newspapers throughout the country. After Lincoln lost that Senate election, the debates were published in book form. The widespread coverage of the original debates and the  popularity of the book eventually led to Lincoln's nomination for President of the United States at the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago. Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election and was re-elected in 1864.

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Renoir's Visit to Guernsey Stamp

 

The French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir visited Guernsey in the summer of 1883 and painted about fifteen pictures there. This maximum card was issued by the Guernsey Post Office. The card reproduces one stamp in the set of five Renoir paintings released to commemorate the Centenary of Renoir's visit to Guernsey. The issue date was September 6, 1983. The other four stamps in the set are a squarish shape and feature landscapes. 

The original of this Children on the Seashore painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Dobsina Ice Cave

This postcard shows a 1905 view of ice skating in the Dobsina Ice Cave. The location was part of Hungary when this postcard was published, but is now part of Slovakia. The following information about the cave is from touristmemory.com:

Situated 20 km north from Dobšiná village within the Slovak Paradise National Park, Dobšiná cave is the oldest and at the same time the largest ice cave in Europe.The layer of ice has a volume of 110 thousands cubic meters, in many places reaching a thickness of 26.5 meters.

Apart from an ice floor, this huge underground glacier has enchanting waterfalls, stalagmites, and columns of ice. The cave was discovered in 1870. Until 1946 the general public was allowed to skate throughout the year. Dobšiná cave is part of a cave system stretching for 21 kilometers. It measures 1232 meters, of which 475-meter stretch is open to the public.

Along with 11 other caves of the Slovak Karst, Dobšiná Cave was added on UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.

There is a gallery of photos of the Dobsina Ice Cave on the website of the Slovak Caves Administration.

The postcard was mailed in 1908 to Amy Sisser c/o O. H. Peck Company in Minneapolis.

The O. H. Peck Company offered photo finishing services and sold photographic supplies. The store had been bought along with other businesses by Eastman Kodak about 1902. It was the scene of a major Minneapolis fire in 1904. When searching for information about the company, I found this interesting December, 1910 newspaper ad for Kodak cameras and supplies sold by O. H. Peck.

 

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