J Arthur Dixon Postcards

J Arthur Dixon Postcards

This note covers only the cards issued between about 1953 and 1969, those that were in colour, and the size 5¾ x 3⅞ inches. I would call this the ‘Golden Age’ of Dixon postcards, and remember racks outside every tourist shop and newsagent, with the flower cards in most gift shops, up to the early 1970s, when makers like Hinde seemed more successful (goodness knows why).

Before 1953 ‘normal’ (5½ x 3½ in.) size cards were issued in both black and white and quite crude colour formats, and after 1969 only larger format cards (5⅞ x 4⅛ in.), though in fact an increasing number of these larger size were issued from the middle 1960s. So this note does not cover cards with numbers higher than 7500, but still includes about 7000 cards.

Over the last 20 odd years I have tried to compile lists of all the cards issued, aided by copies of most, but not all, of the Stock Books from Dixons, and have very largely, but not entirely, sorted out the complexities of the re-numbering and re-issues of the late 1950s. I have also, of course, tried to acquire all the cards.

From 1953 then, Dixons began issuing view and subject cards in this 5¾ x 3⅞ inches format. Each county, country or subject was numbered from 1. Thus Cornwall had 1–29, Lake District 1–46, Madeira 1– at least 80, Shipping 1–26 etc. The only exception seems to be Scotland that always had a designated run from 3400 up towards 5000.

But in 1956 or 1957 almost the whole catalogue was renumbered, with numbers running consecutively from 1. So Flowers became 1-100, Shipping 101-127, Pets and odds and ends 128-139, and then Derbyshire140-144, Durham 145-148, Lake District 149-190 up to Wales at 509.

It is here that the problems start. 510 onwards was allocated to Madeira, up to about 583, then a gap I cannot yet find, but might be Canaries, then London, then some new (black) issues, then Malta, followed by Portugal, taking the sequence up to 947, with further new (black) issues interpolated. I am not at all certain that all the new numbers allocated to the old sequences were in fact actually issued, but all those that were issued, and this is a key point, had black backs. Up to 947 I have accounted for all but a very few, and these must be overseas cards.

Very soon after 1957, and certainly by 1959, the numbers from all of the gaps that had been allocated for overseas cards, issued or not, together with those from the initial 509 that had fallen out of favour, were used again for ‘home’ cards. These almost invariably had blue backs. To take an entirely random example – no 388 (black) was first allocated to Isle of Wight 27 (black), Farringford, Freshwater, but was replaced by 388, (blue) Cornwall, Gerrans Bay and Portscatho.

There are very, very many of these re-issues, with subjects such as Flowers being particularly affected – at least 56 of the original 100 were replaced, using the same numbers. I have lists of all the permutations in a spreadsheet.

After 947, up to 1362, there are the odd reissues, gradually getting less, and after that all is simple!

There are two other problems, one major – the ‘Special’ cards. Certainly from the later 1950s Dixons issued special,’SP’ cards for individual customers. I have the stockbook only from 393 onwards. Most of these cards bore numbers, but a sizeable minority did not, though often those that were un-numbered also exist in a numbered form as well. The stockbook itself is not easy to interpret as to whether a particular number was used for a card, or for another type of promotional material, such as a calendar. Obviously I have some cards before SP393, but need help for many more.

The more minor problem concerns some, but not by any means all, Spanish and Canary Is cards that seem to have a completely different numbering system prefaced by ‘E’.

I have omitted from this note many of the smaller series, though I have lists, covering King-sized cards, Kew, Ministry of Works, Geology and even Goya! I have also omitted all the overseas cards, from Aden to Zanzibar that were not incorporated into the main list at one time or another. This last includes Cyrus and Spain, of the bigger series, that do not seem to have ever been re-numbered.

The purpose of this note is to ask whether anyone is interested generally, and specifically whether anyone can help with the lacunae, and even better, with any of my missing cards! I had some help from a Mr Alf Dewing, from Emsworth, who wrote a short note on the JAD history in 1989, and was in contact with a Mr Phil Rowett from Berwick on Tweed, but recent letters from both have been returned. I filled a huge number of gaps from an early Dixon photographer, John Edwards from Worcester, but he has now died.

The specific areas I would really appreciate help on are

Special, 1-393, and
Madeira, Canaries, Malta and Portugal, both for the early numbers, but also for any renumbered cards from 510 up to 947.

Years ago I thought that I would publish the list, but nowadays I suppose a web-based version is the answer, though I personally fancy the idea of something more permanent. There are a couple of websites that I have seen, but with the greatest respect, they are incomplete, and haven’t begun to master the problems arising from the re-issuing of earlier numbers.

David Pearman