A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ?
C - PUBLISHERS page 1
page 2
Calpis, Inc., Ltd. 1919-
Tokyo, Japan
A manufacturer of fermented nonfat milk beverages based on traditional Mongolian drinks. In 1924 they initiated a poster contest in Europe for advertising their products from which they published the winning designs onto postcards. These lithographic cards are notable for their clear influence of the cutting edge of Western modernism, which they embraced more freely than most publishers back in Europe or the United States.
Camera Products Co. 1926-1958
Vancouver, BC Canada
Published real photo postcards of the photographer Joseph Frederick Spalding that were hand colored by his wife Ida Merle. Spalding had previously sold postcards since 1921 through the Gowen Sutton Co. These cards were manufactured in England.
Canadian Pacific Railway 1881-1978
Calgary, AB Canada
This was the first transcontinental railroad in Canada. Like many railroads they began publishing postcards for their passengers soon after cards became popular. Canadian Pacific eventually purchased a number of hotels to encourage tourism on their line, a move which further increased their need to publish postcards. But by 1967 this railway was predominantly a freight line and by 1978 all passenger service was discontinued. They worked with a number of different printers over the years so their cards do not have a consistent look.
In 1884 the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased its first steamship for use on the Great Lakes. This steamship line grew to connect their railheads to numerous ports across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As this part of their business grew it opened up a new market for selling postcards, not to mention new subjects to place on them.
Canada Railway News Co. Ltd. 1883-1961
Montreal, QC, Canada
They began as a local distributor of newspapers and magazines for steamships and later published souvenir photo books. By 1902 when they moved to Toronto, they had become an important catering service to passenger railroads and accompanying eateries. Through these establishments they began to market their own line of postcards. They continued to publish cards as they expanded their business into amusement parks and in 1941 into the first airport in Canada. In 1961 they merged with Aero to become Cara Operations Ltd.
Cape Cod Post Card Co. 1940's
Provincetown, MA
Published linens, black & white images, and hand colored cards of southeastern Massachusetts. These cards were printed for them by the Albertype Company.
Cardinell-Vincent Co. (1909-1919)
San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, CA
Published view-cards of California using a variety of printers. They were chosen as the official publisher of postcards for the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Their cards were printed in Germany.
Cargill Co. (1911-1913)
Grand Rapids, MI
Published narrative postcards of popular sayings alongside images and similar cards of suffragists with commentary.
Carson-Harper Co. (1890's-1916)
Denver, CO
An early publisher of books and postcards. They produced multi-view scenes of the West as pioneer souvenir cards and private mail cards in halftone lithography. They later reproduced many early pioneer images as regular postcards.
Carter & Gut (1902-1906)
New York, NY
A publisher of view-cards in black & white and in color halftone lithography. They are best known for an early numbered set depicting scenes of New York City in vignette form on rough textured paper.
Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1848-1998
La Belle Savage, London, England
A publishing house founded by John Cassell, that mostly produced books oriented toward the working class. They also published a few view-cards, a set of Cassell’s Art Postcards, and Saturday Journal Portraits within their La Belle Savage Series name. Unfortunately many of these cards suffer from the use of aniline dyes in their printing which can run. They were purchased by the Orion Publishing Group in 1998.
Central News Co. 1877-1996
Philadelphia, PA
A major publisher and distributor of newspapers, periodicals, and postcards through their regional branches. Produced many view-cards of the mid-Atlantic region. They were purchased by United Magazine in 1996.
Central News of Akron, OH was a branch that largely produced view-cards of Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Central News of Tacoma, WA at 916 Pacific was a branch that produced local view-cards.
Central News of Wheeling, WV was a branch that produced local view-cards.
Century Post Card & Novelty (1916-1919)
New York, NY
Published white border cards depicting scenes of New York City in halftone lithography.
J. N. Chamberlain (1905-1920)
Oak Bluffs, MA
Published postcards of Martha’s Vineyard in a deep monochrome, most notably the town of Oak Bluffs. These cards were printed in Germany.
F. Champenois & Co. (1886-1917)
66 Doul St. Michel, Paris, France
An important publisher of art prints, posters, and artist signed postcards. They are best known for the seven series of cards they commissioned by Alphonse Mucha. Even though the images used for the Mucha postcards were borrowed from his larger works, they were all carefully redesigned with the artist for the new postcard format.
J. Howard A. Chapman 1895-1936
Victoria, BC Canada
John Howard Arthur Chapman was a traveling salesman who photographed a wide range of places and subjects while on his journeys. He had many of these photographs printed as continuous tone black & white postcards.
Chapin News Co. (1905-1910)
Hartford, CT
A local publisher and distributor of black & white and color lithographic postcards for the American News Company.
Lal Chand & Sons (1921-)
Dariba, Delhi, India
Photographers of local scenes. Much of their work was printed in books and used for finely printed black & white postcards that were printed in Saxony.
E. P. Charlton & Co. 1899-1912
San Francisco, CA
Earl Perry Charlton and Seymour Knox opened their first 5 & 10 cent store in Fall River, MA in 1890. Highly successful they had 9 east coast stores when they sold their business out to F. W. Woolworth in 1899. Charlton headed west with his proceeds to open up a new chain of stores. The Lewis & Clark exposition in 1905 provided impedes for him to start publishing postcards. Afterwards he continued to publish and distribute lithographic cards through his 52 chain stores until he merged with Woolworths in 1912. Charlton served there as Vice President.
Chicago Daily News 1876-1978
Chicago, IL
A major daily newspaper serving the city of Chicago. In 1898 they became one of the first papers to set up foreign bureau offices. This helped them amass a tremendous collection of photographs of which only a small fraction found its way onto the newspapers pages. Some of the remaining photos were published by the paper as black & white postcards. They produced notable sets depicting American soldiers during the First World War an of Chicago’s A Century of Progress Exposition.
Charles R. Childs 1906-1950’s
Chicago, IL
After working for the Joliet Daily News, Childs opened a commercial photo studio when he moved to Chicago in 1900. Six years later he began publishing real photo postcards of Chicago views. As the years past he took on more employees and began to expand his inventory to cover scenes from the outlying Chicago suburbs and then the midwest region. His shop is thought to have produced between 40-60,000 different postcard images.
Chisholm Brothers (1876-1938)
Portland, ME
Hugh J. Chisholm was originally a large distributor of printed news materials sold on railroads and steamships throughout the northeast. In 1876 he started a lithographic printing company with his brothers that produced many pictorial tourist guides. While their lithographic material was printed in Portland, they imported engraved material in from Germany. At the same time they became heavily invested in Maine’s wood pulp industry. By 1892 they had become an early pioneer in publishing view-cards of the Northeast.
City History Club (1900-1953)
23 West 44th Street, New York, NY
This Club was formed in the face of large numbers of immigrants who arriving in New York with little more than notions of fulfilling immediate economic concerns. It was thought that by providing all New Yorkers with an understanding of its history greater civic pride would develop, which in turn would help safeguard the City’s future. The Clubs many activities, lectures, and commemorations were often oriented toward children. They published historic guides to the city and a series of monotone postcards depicting events from New York’s past.
Clarence Christian (1930’s-1950’s)
2818 NE 31 Avenue, Portland, OR
A photographer and jobber who with his partner Robert Lane published many real photo postcards and souvenir books of Oregon. Many of his photographs carry no name.
R.H. Clarke (1901-1930’s)
High Street, Royston, England
A publisher of view-cards depicting Great Britain. Their cards were issued in a number of techniques and were printed in both England and Germany. They acquired many images when they bought out Alfred Pumphrey’s inventory of lantern slides.
Cleveland News Co. (1902-)
Cleveland, OH
A local publisher and distributor of postcards for the American News Company producing view-cards of Ohio.
W.M. Cline Co. (1940’s-1950’s)
Chattanooga, TN
A publisher of Southern view-cards as Linens and Photochomes. Most cards depicted scenes of Tennessee and North Carolina with quite a few on Cherokee Indians. They also issued a large series of real photo postcards with white borders.
Cluna Studios (1920’s-1930’s)
Dublin, Ireland
An artist studio founded by Gertrude M. Grew that produced a wide variety of items including jewelry, enameled metalwork, stenciled fabric, hand painted woodwork, calendars, prints, and postcards. Grew was a member of the Guild of Irish Art Workers.
Coast Publishing Co. (1907-1950’s)
Vancouver, BC Canada
A publisher of view-cards and cards of Native Americans. Their first cards were halftone lithographs and they latter moved on to linens, and then photochomes. All their cards were printed in the United States.
Herbert A. Coffeen (1910-1916)
Sheridan, WY
A publisher of Western view-cards in halftone monochromatic lithography. These cards were distributed through the Coffeen Schnitger Trading Company. Coffeen is best known for a series of postcards depicting the Custer battlefield at Little Big Horn made from photos taken years earlier by Stanley J. Morrow. Morrow had produced a large number of card photos on his own depicting frontier life. These same images were also published by Laton Alton Huffman, who succeeded Morrow as post photographer at Fort Keogh.
The Collotype Co. 1907-1957
Elizabeth, NJ and New York, NY
Printed black & white view-cards of the mid-Atlantic States up to New England as collotypes. Some of their cards were crudely hand colored.
Colorado News Co. 1883-
Denver, CO
A publisher and distributor of regional view-cards for the American News Company.
Color Card Co.
(see Mike Roberts Studio)
Colorphotographic Co., Ltd. (Farben Photographische) (1914-1922)
Stuttgart, Germany
A publisher and printer of halftone lithographic postcards based on autochromes. These cards were printed in an RGB pallet.
Color Post Card Co. (1920’s)
141 W 33rd Street, New York, NY
A printer of simply colored local view-cards in halftone lithography. The design of their cards makes liberal use of ben day patterns.
Colourpicture (1938-1969)
Boston and Cambridge, MA
A major publisher and printer of linen view-cards of the United States. They later went on to publish photochromes and small spiral bound picture booklets under the name trade name Plastichrome in the 1950's.
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