Peter Mollett

thirty years with Stanley Gibbons and redundancy and, together with my wife, I set about building my own business towards the end of 1993.

In the course of my career, I had always believed it to be of prime importance to be able to refer to well-researched books, both in the course of seeking to purchase either single items or collections or later when preparing for sale items earlier purchased.  Thus it was that, over the years that I traded, I sought to build a comprehensive library of those books that I either knew from my earlier career would be of prime importance and value to me as works of reference or which later, in the course of trading, I came across and recognised as being worthy of acquisition with an eye to the future.

One of the major tasks for any aspiring author of a work of reference, and here I am specifically thinking of a philatelist or postal historian, is that of being able to verify facts earlier acquired during the course of studying their chosen area of specialisation.  Aside such works of reference as they may have accumulated during their years of study there are places which they may well decide to visit in the course of further research including, for example, The British Library, The Postal Museum, The Public Records Office, etc.  In addition, the author will almost certainly seek to enlist the assistance and input of fellow specialists in their chosen subject and acknowledgement will in due course be given when the book is published.

Just occasionally, although thankfully rarely, I have come across instances where too much reliance has been placed upon that information already in print, most often because the facts earlier presented are, or appear to be, either beyond reproach or else are visibly present and believable. At other times a close inspection of an item in the author’s collection may not seemingly contradict previously published facts.

This last possible explanation for the occurrence of an error came to mind recently when I was in the process of integrating a small group of earlier purchased items into my collection of LL postcards of the Channel Islands.  Here I should confess that I am not as conversant with the LL numbers of the cards of Jersey as with those of Guernsey having only in recent years decided upon adding the cards of the former island to my collection.  I would also mention, and collectors of these cards will be aware, that in the case of black and white cards in particular, it is occasionally very difficult if not impossible to read all of the inscription printed in black on the front of the card when such overlaps the image depicted thereon (Figure 1 above).

Thus, when I came to add the Jersey LL card depicting “Highlands. – Collège de Jésuites (Aile gauche). / Jewish college (left wing).” (Figure 1 above) –incorrectly translated as a Jewish college when it was in fact run by the Jesuits –I needed to confirm the number.  Upon close inspection and with the aid of a strong magnifying glass – my eyesight occasionally needing such assistance these days – I thought the number to be 37.  As, from recollection, I had thought that it might be numbered in the 80s I referred to my copy of Bob Mallet’s excellent and fully illustrated work on the LL postcards of Jersey (Reference 2) which identified the card as being no. 87. However, a close examination of the of the card illustrated therein determined it to be in fact numbered 37.  I then decided to check both Stanley Newman’s listing of the LL postcards of the Channel Islands (Reference 1), the listing that got me started on collecting these most attractive of postcards, and finally the most recent and comprehensive of all published books dealing with the subject of LL postcards, that by John Wood listing all UK LL postcards (Reference 3).  Both of these publications do in fact identify the card as being numbered 87.  This would appear to suggest the perpetuation of an error over the years, all too easily acceptable when the subject of the error does not itself facilitate easy and accurate identification (Figure 2).

I shall in the coming months have to carefully check the numbering of all of the cards in my collection although I have little doubt that I shall find another instance of accidental misnumbering.

References:

1. LL Postcards of the Channel Islands, Stanley Newman, Fifth edition, 2006.

2. A Catalogue of Jersey Postcards, Published by Levy Sons & Co., Paris” Bob Mallet, 2014.

3. LL1 – All the LL Postcards of the UK” by John Wood, 2017.

Amongst my family memorabilia is a postcard dating from 1944 the content of which serves to further underline both the privations and difficulties endured by Channel Islanders during the German Occupation.

My father was born in Guernsey in 1916 and lived there with his parents and a brother throughout the period of the German Occupation from June 1940 to May 1945.  His father died early in 1944.  My Mother, whom he met and to whom he became engaged before the beginning of the war was, at the commencement of the Occupation, nursing in the Midlands.  They were thus separated throughout the Occupation, finally meeting up again following the Liberation and marrying later in 1945.  But that is another story.

Following the Allied invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944 and the commencement of the Islands “Fortress Period” the plight of the Islanders, having special regard to the supplies of food, became increasingly difficult.  Supplies of foodstuffs and other essentials had been previously sourced, purchased and shipped for the most part from Granville with States Purchasing Agents for both Guernsey and Jersey being based there throughout the Occupation. Following the liberation of that town by American forces on 30 July 1944 that source of supplies was cut off and, in fact, the final cargo of supplies from France arrived in Guernsey on Monday 7 August, this from St. Malo, which itself was liberated some 10 days later on 17 August.

All foodstuffs for the civilian population were by now subject to very severe rationing including such basics as bread, potatoes, salt, and a coffee substitute.  Coffee had long been unobtainable and the substitute, comprising roasted barley and acorns – yes acorns – was itself becoming very scarce having previously been imported from France.

My father who, together with his brother, had earlier rented a field near to the coast in St. Martins in order to grow vegetables for the family’s use, was in the habit of visiting a friendly neighbour most evenings after curfew to collect a small supply of milk for the family. I imagine that a bartering arrangement existed between them. The family archive includes a postcard sent to him and posted on 1 August 1944 (Figure 1). It is franked with a 2½d Arms stamp with the machine cancellation for that date.

An indication of the severe shortage of milk supplies on the island is borne out by the fact of the German Officer in charge of the Feldkommandantur, MVR Zachau Schneberger (Ref.1), writing on 11 August to The Controlling Committee of The States of Guernsey:

“According to reports received and from observation there is still milk being sold unlawfully by the producers to military and civilian persons.  In view of the present food situation this condition is intolerable.  You are therefore requested to point out in the local press that, in consideration of the food conditions, the unauthorised trading in milk or fat, even in very small quantities, cannot be tolerated under any circumstances and that contraventions to this order will be severely punished by imprisonment. In contraventions committed by military persons will you please refer to this office.” (Ref. 2).

I was first shown the postcard by Dad in the 1960s at which time he told me that following receipt of the card he was very much more cautious when out and about after dark and during the time of curfew throughout the remainder of the Occupation.

Ref 1. MVR – Militärverwaltungsrat (Military Advisory Committee)

Ref 2. William M Bell. 2002. Guernsey Occupied but Never Conquered.

Collectors of picture postcards will, from time to time, almost certainly have come across, either in their own collection or else from amongst the stocks of dealers through which they may have been searching, a card whereon the inscription there printed contains a typographical error, most probably an error of spelling.  No where is this more true than for collectors of LL postcards, those produced by Lévy Sons & Co., later Lévy and Neurdein Réunis following the merger of Lévy with Neurdein & Co. in 1922.  In the case of cards produced by them this is perhaps understandable as the inscriptions on their cards, printed in France, were typeset by citizens of that country whose command of English may well not have been such as to ensure the correct spelling of place names on postcards depicting scenes from cities, towns and resorts in England, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands where the cards were ultimately destined to be offered for sale.

LL postcards first appeared for sale in England in mid-1905 in a number of South coast resorts.  Cards featuring views of London appeared a year later, followed in 1907 by cards of Jersey and in 1908 of cards both for Guernsey and Sark.

In this brief article I have not attempted to list all of those many errors already identified and listed elsewhere.  Rather I have confined myself to detailing a few which I have come across and added to my own collection and which I have not found mentioned in other publications.

Beginning with cards of Sark you might assume that the publishers would at least have been able to ensure that their own name, appearing as part of the imprint on the reverse of many cards, when it did appear, was correctly spelt.  Sadly this was not always the case.  An example of card no. LL 4, depicting the boat “Alert” in harbour bears the imprint “EVYL Sons & Co, Paris” on the reverse (Fig. 1).  Another card from Sark, no. LL 16, featuring the Natural Arch, Dixcart Bay, bears the imprint “EYY Sons & Co, Paris” (Fig. 2).

Turning to Guernsey I have an example of card no. LL 97, which depicts the Victoria Tower and Garden.  The inscription on the front has the no. “97” omitted, possibly because of its positioning to the far left of the card, but to my mind of far more interest is the spelling “CUERNSEY” (Figs. 3 & 4). 

Finally, but by no means least, to Jersey and here I have an example of card no. LL 74 depicting the “Battle of Jersey 1781 (Court House.), “where both the English and French inscriptions include the name of the island as being “Jersez” (Figs. 5 & 6). 

Next, an example of card no. LL 108 entitled “General View” bears the imprint “LEYY Sons & Co, Paris” on the reverse (Fig. 7), yet another example of the publisher encountering problems with the spelling of their name.  One final card from Jersey, an example of card no. LL 217, showing the “Baie (sic) of St-Brelade.”, in my collection features the inscription commencing “JERSEV” with the “V” then overprinted with the letter “Y” (Figs. 8 & 9).  This appears to be an example of an error discovered by the printers and somewhat crudely corrected because they were unwilling to destroy those cards already printed.

I should perhaps mention that I have a number of examples of each of the above cards in my collection differing slightly in either their inscriptions on the front of the card or else in regards to either the imprint or other wording on the reverse and emanating from different printings, but that only a single example of each shows the error so mentioned and illustrated.  I don’t doubt, but that there are many other examples of each of these errors in existence as well as other errors not as yet discovered or recorded.

In closing I hope that collectors of these fascinating series of cards may possibly be encouraged to seek out examples of such errors for their own collections and that others, not until now collectors of postcards, may perhaps be prompted to add another proverbial string to their collecting bow.

Bibliography.

“LL Postcards of the Channel Islands” by Stanley Newman, (Fifth edition, 2006).

“A Catalogue of Jersey Postcards Published by Levy Sons & Co., Paris” by Bob Mallet, (2014).

““LL1” All the LL Postcards of the UK” by John Wood, (2017).