This is an attempt to catalogue the output of one of London’s leading local topographical postcard publishers during the ‘golden age’.     No original list exists and this compilation has been produced from an examination of those cards which have survived and are in the hands of present day collectors, several of whom have contributed greatly to the preparation of this list.     By its very nature, therefore, such a checklist can never be complete, but, with the help of fellow collectors, I am sure that the majority of the ‘lacunae’ may be filled.

Gordon Smith’s postcard output began towards the end of 1902 with the production of about two dozen titles on undivided backs - the plates being fine lithographs printed in London on stiff card by Herbert & Mobbs of Bucklersbury.     Several of these early titles are very scarce and were never re-issued, unlike so many other best-sellers over the years.    H & M soon afterwards changed their business to that of Law Stationers and Smith had to make alternative printing arrangements.    By May 1903 the lithographs were supplanted by collotypes printed in Berlin on divided backs by Max Heimann & Co.    These latter soon became the mainstay of production and several different printers, notably Lengner of Leipzig, were used over the years.    All early cards were published from Smith’s home address at 68 Allerton Road.     By March 1904, however, business had increased sufficiently for premises to be rented at 15 Stroud Green Road and it is this address which predominates on the bulk of his output.    Smith himself died on 30th May 1906; but the business was carried on by his widow and two daughters until after the war, when they finally sold out in about 1921 - the last card issued being No. 2548 of The Cenotaph, which was not unveiled until 1st October 1920.     A handful of cards are known with the imprint Thos. W. Gowans (Successor to Gordon Smith), Wood Green, N. - although Smith’s grand-daughter always believed that the business passed to Raphael Tuck, as ultimately it may still have done.    Nevertheless some original artwork has survived bearing the name of the photographer Campbell Gray; thus it seems possible that the purchasers could in fact have been the publishers Gowans & Gray, whose main address was the Adelphi.

The numbering system was based on the ‘block’ principal, with whole series of numbers assigned each to a different area of London.     Thus it was possible for large gaps to exist in the total range of numbers issued - such that, although cards are known to bear numbers as high as 6045, only half as many numbered titles probably exist.     To further complicate matters certain cards were issued with suffix letters, normally A or B, but occasionally rising higher - in one case as high as J (viz: 201J); the special suffix letter S was reserved for the rare ‘snow’ scenes, although the cards are unrelated to the base number and in reality form a separate series in the 1000s.

Allerton Road cards are found with numbers up in the early 800s - and even as high as 1001 - but few numbers in the 900s appear to have been issued at all!

A small proportion of Gordon Smith’s output was of Real Photographic cards produced in small quantities in his own dark room direct from the original glass negatives.    Such cards do not always bear the publisher’s name, but the styles are distinctive enough for most to be readily identifiable as his work.    A few anonymous real photographic cards having the same distinctive script and numbered in the 500s also exist; one of these, of Tower Bridge (567), is signed as well as two collotypes, 508 & 521.    The jury is still out on these, but I list here those that I have seen, including for good measure No. 478 as this is in the same style.

The main series of numbers was supplemented by four separate series as follows:-

The London Life cards originated in many guises, usually in the un-numbered Views series, but later as numbered cards and in 1911 appearing un-numbered with the ‘Types of London Life’ imprint, before being accorded their own numbers later in the same year.    Six cards, numbered 1 - 6, also exist of the Zoo.

As well as a few special series, such as the railway and ‘Jotter’ cards, an attempt has also been made to list the bulk of un-numbered topographical printed cards.     Experience has shown that numbered versions of most, if not all of these, exist and in many cases it has been possible to identify them.

I apologise for the bald nature of the main listing of numbers; this was originally prepared on my BBC computer over 20 years ago and has been converted into no fewer than five formats along the line, finally ending up as HTML.    I do intend to revisit the formatting eventually!

The content of the list is under continuous revision and additions and corrections will be gladly received by e-mail.

© Philip Richards - Revised May 2008.