Issue no 195 Winter 2021

In this issue Nº 195 ·  Winter  2021

Giles Phillips, Postcards from France // Graham Hall, A Sharpe surprise // Dickon Weir-Hughes, When is a postcard not ‘just’ a postcard? When it’s also an airline menu ! // Alan Brooks, Car tax discs: the forgotten centenary? // Subhradeep Chatterjee, Ephemeriad Project // David Knott, Mr. & Mrs. George Cruikshank’s Silver Wedding, 1875 // Alice Ridgway, The evolution of  the smiley: A pin badge history // Rosie Dyson, The John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History // Mrs Pepys // Notes & Queries // Graham Hudson // Classified

Welcome to Winter 2021 issue Nº 195. I’m tempted to call this the ‘postcards’ issue, given the three contributions we have on this topic. As Phillips points out, the joy of collecting postcards above other ephemera is ‘that extra frisson that comes with the knowledge that, at least sometimes, it will contain a personal message that takes you so much closer to the period in which it was written’. In the nearly 50 years in the life of The Society, memorable personalities have come and gone, but I was struck by the obituary in this issue written by the son of one such character who writes, ‘Collecting can only exist within a community, and dad fostered this as much as he did the collection itself.’ What more worthwhile goal can there be for this journal, than to bring the community of ephemerists together to share their stories? We wish you happy collecting in 2022. The Editor