I found this in an edition of La Mode Illustrée from 1901. La Mode Illustrée was a fashion newspaper for women and someone who used to live here at Les Fragnes loved it. We have copies dating from the 1870s up to 1910 or so. They’d all been lovingly bundled and stored in the grenier, sadly many of them falling victim to the elements before we found them after moving here in 2006.

Back to what I found:

mode illustree postcards002

These are all people wanting to receive postcards. I hope they got a nice lot.

Postcard swapping schemes have always been popular and if this pleasant activity appeals to you then you should sign up at www.postcrossing.com. Sending a postcard is reaching out a tendril of friendship to someone, making a connection to a fellow human being. I think it’s rather nice.

For a while a group of us at university together got into the routine of sending each other the worst possible postcards we could find when we went on holiday – you know, the ones with the unnaturally garish colours or a toothless old dear in national dress partaking in a local custom like lacemaking or spinning or skinning a child.

I used to collect postcards and did so for quite a while. I bought loads during my time interrailing and as an au pair but I’ve no idea what happened to them… And now I suppose the postcard’s days are ultimately numbered what with ecards and all. Generally I’m all in favour of change and progress, but I actually hope postcards hang around for a while yet.