picture postcards of "indelicate nature"

[brigidmac]

could anyone take a guess at what type of postcards my ggfather was arrested for selling in Dundee in 1906

1 newspaper  referred to them as "travesties of modern art" so i thought they were likely to be photos as opposed to drawings with saucy sentences .

He'd  been selling them in Derby and procured them from a "large midlands town ".
So he had gone into six shops in Dundee and asked openly if they were interested before someone fetched the police ! He was fined given choice of 10 days imprisonment ..I wonder what happened to the postcards ...?

We have proof of him being a draper +general dealer in Birkenhead in 1901 , 1906 article had him as  an "art dealer" ,by 1911 he was a travelling salesman in Wales (but dont know if he'd given up on postcards )

His brother in law Benjamin Bloch was a picture framer in Dundee/Glasgow from the 1890's

[macintosh]

google Victorian saucy postcards  select  images.

James

[brigidmac]

 Thans James  , I don't know if they were "saucy "  + actually 1906 was start of Edwardian era

When i did try ti Google got lots of stuff ireally didn't want to see or read .which is why i went to local bookshop ..I asked for "Victorian Erotica" and got the Gentleman's relish book ..but there are very few dates its more collections by themes

[Treetotal]

Probably bathers displaying too much flesh for the delicate Edwardian senses:

In the early years of the 20th century postcards began showing female bathers with bare feet and sometimes bare ankles and curves as well. Even the sleeves on some of these bathing dresses were sometimes cut far back enough to expose the arm above the wrist. These alterations however do not represent any real changes in fashion but rather a shifting philosophy in postcard production. There had always been a strong demand for cards containing female imagery from their very inception. Those depicting nudes were the most sought after but the most difficult to obtain for they could rarely be mailed and various criminal penalties could be attached to their dissemination.

Images of cross dressers:

http://www.metropostcard.com/metropcbloga4.html

Carol

[Viktoria]

This reminds me of an episode of The Goon show--Colonel Bloodnock was sending off for " some naughty photograph  postcards" to be delivered  in a plain brown envelope .
  He was paying for them with a photograph of a five pound note 
Still creases me up 60 years later.
                                                Viktoria.

[jim1]

I would say they were photos of naked or near naked women in classical poses.
Photographers/sellers tried to get round the obscenity laws by claiming they were art photographs.

[brigidmac]

Jim I 'm with you but in defence of my great grandfather they could have been art photos ...he was an Art dealer at one point .Hard to see the difference between statues portraits + photos that were just natural not provocative poses .

Thanks for all comments + the link Carol

Was his daughter "indelicate " ...? My avatar is the daughter he never knew my nan ..how old do you think she is in this photo in her bathing suit ?? She was born Dec 1899 .

[brigidmac]

loads to read on Carol's link + some lovely pics

can i copy them after 100 years i suppose they are not copy right

 " If laws prohibited publishers from marketing nudes they could often get away with providing the risqué, and they did so in large numbers as the demand for them insured high profits. Publishers would continually press the limits on how much flesh they could show off in order to attract more customers without getting in trouble with the authorities. This created a situation where the fashions displayed on artist drawn and photo studio postcards were usually years ahead of what was actually socially permissible to wear out in public. "

quoted from that link

[Viktoria]

When you think of the seaside postcards which were very risqué,with their well endowed girls and matronly wives of hen-pecked husbands .Granted they were cartoons but very "naughty " non the less.
Very funny though     .Viktoria.