29.00 USD
Almost any RPPC (real photo post card), if it is wonderful, is at once both wonderful, and rare, because there were almost never more than a very few produced from any one negative.
I can remember a door-to-door photographer coming into our home, when I was little, and making a portrait of our family. This would have been in the early 1960s, and probably wasn't all that common even then.
But, at the turn of the century, when Tinkers arrived at your door on a bicycle fitted with a grinding stone attachment for the sharpening of kitchen knives and tools, itinerant photographers carried their equipment from place to place, and we imagine, an assortment of trompe l'oeils (painted backdrops), from place to place as well, taking family portraits that would be handed down from generation to generation as valued heirlooms.
Also, by the time this RPPC was made, cameras were being sold to the home photographer that used postcard sized plates, so they could make photo postcards themselves, with no enlargement necessary, and whenever they wished! Why...it was practically an "instamatic!"...Not :)
Here, we see one of the ways families enjoyed their free time at home, before everyone had a radio to gather around. Two mandolins, a cello, and a little boy on the piano, with ol' Uncle Pierre in the middle, getting carried away as usual (Mom always hid the lampshades when he came to visit :).
Please note, that on the music stand next to the cellist, is a concerto by one of the most beloved composers of la Belle Epoque, Edouard Lalo (you will have to zoom in to see it), but this family is indulging in a raucous piece of music for which the cellist needs no bow, as he is plucking it in bass fiddle fashion.
Also, this card is a very "Downton Abbey" item, not because of the marvelous image, taken in a very simply furnished parlor/music room in France, but because of where the card was sent.
On the reverse side, we see the card was posted to a Mlle. Bouny, c/o The Viscountess Deerhurst, Dynes Hall, Halstead, Essex.
We assume Mlle. Bouny was a member of the musical family in the image, or at least a close friend, since the message written around the border of the card is the sort of greeting you might receive from a family member, but we don't know anything about her, or why she was staying with the Viscountess.
Dynes Hall was certainly one of the stately homes of England, and although it is located in Essex, a fair distance from Yorkshire (where the fictional Downton Abbey is located), there are similarities between the two.
Take the Viscountess herself, for example. The Lady Deerhurst was formerly known as Miss Virginia Bonynge, the stepdaughter of an American millionaire who made his fortune mining California gold (Oh those coarse Americans and their nouveau millions!). Sound familiar? In this respect, she bears a distinct resemblance to Lady Cora Crawley of Downton.
Also, like Lady Cora of Downton, the Viscountess was a classy "nouveau riche" American. She was a great favorite of the King's sister, and the King himself stood sponsor for her son.
And do you recall the incident, in Downton Abbey, when Lady Mary gets scandalously steamy with the romantic Kemal Pamuk, who ends up dead in her bedroom? If you remember, Kemal assured Lady Mary that marriage was out of the question, as neither of their families would agree to such a match (The very idea! How would their respectable families survive the scandal of an interracial marriage!).
Well, in real life among the Deerhursts, Lord Deerhurst's sister, Lady Anne Coventry, didn't stop at romance, but in fact married Prince Duleep Singh, the son of the Maharaja of Lahore, and somehow both families managed to survive their union. Perhaps some of these Edwardian toffs were less uptight than we like to imagine!
From the simple quality of decor in the pictured parlor, and the size of the room, though they did own a number of valuable musical instruments, the family in our postcard doesn't seem to be of the "aristocratic" class. So was Mlle. Bouny a friend of the Viscountess, or even a close employee, such as a nanny, or lady's maid?
Imagine an adventure this young woman had on her visit, as if it took place in an episode of Downton Abbey. We should mention that Lady Coventry's husband, Prince Singh did, in real life, also have a brother, Prince Duleep F. Singh, who was known affectionately within the Deerhurst family as Uncle Freddy. What might have happened if the lovely Mlle. Bouny had met Uncle Freddy? Would sparks have flown? Sorry, we do get carried away sometimes :)
No doubt there are countless similarities between the fictional Crawleys and the real Deerhursts. Every family endures its own dramas, and those of the "Jones's" next door, so often mirror our own. But we hope you Downton Abbey fans out there enjoyed these observations.
A great card in so many ways! Overall, in very nice condition, too. It is unusual for us to find images that not only take us into the homes of the Belle Epoque family, allowing us to appreciate the differences and similarities between their lifestyles and our own, but that also give us such animated activity as this one does, and we are very pleased to share this card with you.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!