Walch's "Greeting From Hobart" card

[Des_Beechey]

The card below is Walch's "Greetings from Hobart" real photo postcard, which has been a bit of a mystery because it does not have the name of any publisher printed on it. The images on the front are Walch's usual views so it has been assumed to be a Walch card, but the back is not in the usual style of a Walch card.

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Now that we have found Walch's correspondence in the archives, we have the original letter ordering the card. The letter was sent to The Rotary Photo Co in London on September 11, 1906. The two page letter is below:

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The letter clarifies a number of things. Firstly, the card was printed by Rapid Photo Co of London, and the letter is dated Sept 11, 1906, so Walch would have been selling the cards by the end of 1906. (Reassuringly, mine is dated Jan 25, 1907) The letter specifies the layout of the back of the card; it is unusually bare for a Walch card, with Walch's name not shown.

The 10 views to be included are listed on the second page. Interestingly, they included a view of Strahan, which is not common on Walch cards.

The card was to be modelled on an existing "Greetings from London" card, number 5210. Does anyone have a copy of that?

But note, for the view of the Post Office, the printer was to draw in the time on the clock! In 1906 the tower had been erected, but the clock was not yet installed. The post office appears so small in the finished card that its hard to see what time they drew in.

The quantity to be printed is in a faint note at the bottom of the first page, and it is partly obscured. I think it says 4000; the note adds "If they turn out well we shall want many more". Cards of the Hobart GPO were in demand in 1906; more on this later.

Des Beechey