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 ?
G - PUBLISHERS
J. Gaberell A.G. (1923-1949)
Thalwil, Zurich, Switzerland
This company published the photographs of Jean Gaberell, with many manufactured as real photo postcards. He is best known for his views of the Alps and figures engaged in winter sports.
Many of Gaberell’s photographs were also finely printed as color cards in continuous tones on a textured paper.
Gale & Polden, Ltd. 1892-1981
Aldershot, England
The origins of this large printing and publishing firm began in 1866 when James Gale opened a book shop in Chatham. Seven years later he began printing books and by 1877 he took on Ernest Polden as an apprentice. They worked well together moving to a larger establishment in Aldershot in 1888 and joining together to form a Limited Partnership with an office in London in 1892. Most of the work they produced was military related, which led them to open a third office in Portsmouth to help capture business from the Royal Navy. In 1901 they began publishing postcards in halftone lithography. These cards also largely dealt with military themes, as they produced series on Regiments, Naval Ships, Admiral Nelson, humorous naval nicknames, and more. They also produced view-cards but even many of these scenes were somehow related to the military. In 1963 they were purchased by the Purnell Group and after a number of further buy-offs they finally shut down their printing facilities in 1981.
P.J. Gallais & Cie (1910-1917)
38 Rue Vignon, Paris, France
Published artist signed cards, political satire, and risque subjects all in chromolithography. Noted for their illustrated work by Hansi and Harri Zislin. Many of their illustrated cards promoted pro-French propaganda concerning the German control of Alsace. During the First World War their cards were printed on paper rather than card stock.
Ewing Galloway Agency 1920-
New York, NY
Ewing Galloway was a journalist and photo editor. He left the employment of Underwood & Underwood to start his own stock news agency in 1920. He concentrated on non-timely subjects giving his photographs a much longer commercial life. Many of this agency’s photos were used by various publishers to create view-cards of cities such as New York, Chicago, and Detroit. When Galloway died in 1953 the agency had stockpiled over 400,000 images. Most of their photographers remain unknown as few records were ever kept.
G. A. Novelty Co. (1908-1910)
New York, NY
A publisher of simple greeting and unique novelty postcards. They were manufactured in Germany.
Marshal Gardner 1910-1940
16 Main Street, Nantucket, MA
A photographer of Nantucket and Bermuda. Gardner was the sole agent for the Eastman Kodak Company on the Island. He published black & white continuous tone postcards of Nantucket Island from his photographs, which he sold from his shop. The large contract series printed by the Detroit Publishing Company contains some of his best known work. There are many printing variations to these Detroit cards, especially between those Detroit published for itself and those of the same subject later contracted out by Gardner. After Detroit Publishing closed, Gardner continued to contract out his cards with the Photochrome Process Company but few were printed as the quality was much lower.
S.E. Garland 1888-1920’s
177 Water Street, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
The store of Samuel Eliot Garland who served as the local bookseller, stationer, and news agent. Garland published some books and was the first to sell postcards in Newfoundland. Many of these local view-cards were printed in continuous tone under the Photo-Iris Series name. Although his store burnt down in 1892 and again in 1908 he rebuilt and operated it until his retirement in the 1920’s.
The Garraway Co. 1909’s-
Rutherford, NJ
Published real photo postcards of national views. They would take orders from many small shops and pharmacies, and then produce cards for them.
Gartner & Bender (1911-1918)
Chicago, IL
Published art, comic, and holiday postcards, but they are best known for their cards depicting children and women. They produced illustrated cards with reoccurring characters such as Kewpie Angel and Dolly Dimples.
J. Geiser (1862-1913)
Algiers, Algeria
Jean-Baptiste Antoine Alary had already been photographing scenes in Algeria during the 1850’s when Lucien Jacob Geiser joined him. They set up a shop together under the name Alary & Geiser, but when Jacob died his wife Julie Geiser took over his half of the shop in 1862. Five years later Alary would also die and the shop was turned over to Julie’s three photographer sons under the name Geiser Freres. They continued to print the work of Alary but under their name. By the 1870’s the shop was left in the hands of only one brother, Jean Theophile Geiser who changes the shops name once again to J. Geiser painting & photography. This complicated family history makes it impossible to directly attribute images to any one individual. But taken as a whole they were the most important photographers of Algeria during the 19th century going into the 20th. Many of there images were published as photogravure postcards..
Gies & Co. Lithography (1877-1910)
Buffalo, NY
Printer of fine chromolithographic products including prints, trade cards, and postcards. They printed the official cards for the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo for the Niagara Envelope Manufactory.
P.C. Geissler (1840-1915)
Nuremberg, Bavaria
A book publisher that began illustrating book with steel engravings. They published artist signed postcards in the 20th century in halftone lithography..
Genuine Photo Co. (1907-1908)
Staten Island, NY
Produced hand colored real photo postcards of Staten Island scenery and buildings. Their cards were tinted in broad swaths rather than with detailed brushwork. While some cards have a title or company name embossed into their tabs, many are without any printed identification. Almost all however have some identifying writing on the image from the negative being scratched into.
Georgia News Co. (1908-)
Atlanta, GA
A publisher and distributor of local view-cards for the American News Company.
German-American Novelty Art Co. (1905-1912)
New York, NY
Theodore Stroefer published illustrated landscape views and many other subjects in sets of four to twelve cards each that were numbered between 100 and the 900’s. Cards numbered above 1000 were reserved for their holiday and greeting postcards. Many of these cards were artist signed. All their cards were printed in Leipzig, Germany.
German-American Post Card Mfg. Co. (1906-1918)
318 Broadway, New York, NY
A publisher of hand colored and halftone lithographic view-cards of the American northeast, especially southern New England.
J. Gerstmayer (1901-1933)
Vienna, Austria
An mportant publisher of books and other lithographic materials including postcards in halftone.
Gibson Art Co. 1908-
Cincinatti, OH
A publisher of greeting cards. Many of their illustrations floated within the white paper field of the card, which was a distinctly American inovation in design.
Laurence T. Gieringer 1941-
Hamburg, PA
Laurence Gieringer and his brother Paul pursued their childhood dreams and spent the rest of their lives building Roadside America. This interactive roadside attraction was one of the largest miniature villages ever to be built, and many postcards were published depicting its many facets. When Laurence died in 1961 the Village became frozen in time. Though his recreation was meant to represent the true American landscape, it was more of a conception than an actual slice of life. These postcards are a prime example of what is termed roadside America apart from the name of the business.
Benjamin Arthur Gifford 1888-1936
Portland and Dalles, OR
An important photographer of Native Americans and the Columbia River Basin. He published postcards of his own photos in photogravure. Other publishers also used his photo work to create printed cards. His son, Ralph I. Gifford, was also a photographer and ran the family business between 1936 and 1947.
Le Gilletta & Cie 1880-
Nice, France
Jean Gilletta was a photographer that captured many images of southern France and northern Italy. Many of these scenes were printed as postcards in a variety of techniques. The company also published a number of tourist guidebooks, a tradition that continues to this day.
Glacier Park Hotel Co. 1905-1961
St. Paul, MN
A wholly owned subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway Company formed to privately develop Glacier National Park for tourists. The Great Northern was a major transcontinental railway that skirted the southern border of the park. They had lobbied hard for its formation for they new it would increase rail traffic on their line. They did much to promote the park referring to the area as the American Alps and their rail line as the National Park Route. In 1915 they began the See America First campaign which produced a great many postcards in a number of different techniques. Well known photographers such as T.J. Hileman and F.H. Kiser were hired to provide images for postcard production. These promotional campaigns greatly reinforced national tourism and American mythology. The Glacier Park Hotel Company was sold to the National Park Service in 1961 and Great Northern merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970.
Louis Glaser (1881-1915)
Leipzig, Saxony
A printer of souvenir books and postcards. He is best known for the Glaser Process in which a rich monochrome image could be produced by using at least five different litho stones, not for different colors but for different tonalities. This process was shared with the printer Charles Frey of Frankfort, Germany.
Herbert Glasier & Co. (1910-1935)
7 Yarmouth Street, Boston, MA
A photographer who produced real photo postcards of national views for many different publishers. Many of these cards seem to have been contracted from establishments catering to tourists. A unique stamp box appears on the back of their cards that more likely serves the purpose of a logo than indicating the type of photo paper used.
H.G. Glen & Co., Ltd. (1899-)
Leeds, England
A publisher of postcards under the Glensco Series name. Their early cards were printed in continuous tone lithography in Saxony, and largely consisted of views and comic cards.
M. Gluckstadt and Munden Co. (1896-)
Hamburg, Germany
A major printer and distributor of postcards with jobbers in many international ports. They used the lichtdruck process to print monochromatic cards as both full images and multi-views. Many of their cards were later hand colored.
Paul Goerke & Son (1890’s-1907)
Manitou, Colorado
Photographers who bought a large track of land soon after moving to Manitou full of highly eroded rock formations known as Mushroom Park. This area near Silver Springs was already popular with tourists and they constructed roads and trails through their property to encourage visitors. They did not charge admission to walk or ride through this unique landscape but the Goerkes reserved all rights to take photographs there. These practices lead to the production of many real photo postcards depicting visitors posing before large rock formations.
Goeggel & Weidner 1903
See Charles Weidner
Emil Goetz 1896-1958
Luzern, Switzerland
A photographer and publisher of fine lithographic view-cards. During the First World War they produced a set of feildpostcards depicting scenes from the front.
Gottschalk, Dreyfuss & Davis (1909-1915)
45 East 20th Street, New York, NY
Published Illustrated booklets and both holiday and greeting cards. Many of the mottos used for these cards were directly solicited from the public. These cards were printed in Germany in continuous tone lithography but with a limited pallet. They also had offices in London and Munich.
Le Goubey (1920’s)
Normandy, France
A photographer who published regional view-cards from his own work in monochromatic photogravure.
W. N. Gough (1906-1938)
York, ME
Published view-cards of the York area of southern Maine using a variety of printers.
Gowen Sutton Co. Ltd. 1921-1960
Vancouver, BC Canada
A publisher of real photo and printed postcards of the Canadian West. Not only did they produce cards depicting large cities, they captued many hard to reach views within the Canadian Territories. Many of their cards were hand tinted in a simple manner striving for style rather than realism, which created cards in vastly differing quality. While the real photo cards were made in Canada their printed cards were made in England.
Granbergs Konstindustri Aktiebolags (1912-1925)
Stockholm, Sweden
A major publisher of lithographic materials. They produced artist signed postcards and view-cards of Scandinavia, the Baltics, Russia, Central Asia, and Palestine.
Grand Trunk Railway Co. of Canada 1852-1919
London. England
The main lines of this railroad company connected the New England States with the Provence of Quebec and Ontario. Although headquartered in London the Railroad was functionally run out of Montreal in Canada. They contracted out a number of postcards depicting views along their routes with small local publishers. Despite expanding their lines to new destination they went bankrupt and were incorporated into the Canadian National Railways in 1920.
George S. Graves 1908-1914
Springfield, MA and Harpswell, ME
Published black & white view-cards that were base on his photographs of Springfield, Massachusetts and the Maine coast. They were printed lithographicly utilizing an open halftone. Graves published approximately 650 views of Maine between Portland and Boothbay Harbor. While some cards have his name printed on them as publisher, others only have his name on the image as a photo credit.
Merrill H. Graves (1890-1906)
111 Washington St., Marblehead, MA
A photographer and stationer. Graves produced early local stereo-views and photographs, many of which were turned into printed black & white and hand colored postcards.
Gray News Co. (1906-1922)
Salt Lake City, UT
A publisher and distributor of regional lithographic view-cards. Many images were produced of sparsely populated rugged areas.
Green Mountain Card Co. (1906-1945)
White River Junction, VT
Published sets of color and black & white view-cards capturing scenes from Vermont to New Hampshire. Some of their cards were hand colored.
John Worthington Gregory 1920’s-1992
Hyannis, MA
A noted artist and photographer of eastern Massachusetts. He is best known for his lithographs and photographs of Provincetown on Cape Cod. Both his drawn and photographic work were turned into real photo postcards. Many of his cards are titled and signed in hand. The bulk of his work seems to date from the 1930’s. Many of his photo images were later reproduced in halftone lithography on continental size cards.
E. A. Grimm (1897-)
Hamburg, Germany
An early printer of view-cards. They contracted out cards to American publishers and are noted for a pioneer set of 12 views depicting Philadelphia. Their cards were distributed through a worldwide system.
W. J. Grimshaw (1912-1928)
Staten Island, NY
A photographer who published printed view-cards of Staten Island based on his own photos. With the exception of some hand colored cards most of his views were printed in black & white through the Albertype Company.
Grogan Photo Service (1933-1950)
Chicago, IL
A stock photo house that provided images for publication. They published a number of images from their vast stock as real photo postcards.
Edward Gross (1908-1925)
118 East 16th Street, New York, NY
A publisher of prints and postcards. Many of their cards were comics or artist signed and produced in a variety of manner.
H. Guggenheim & Co. (1901-1904)
Zurich, Switzerland
An artists studio that published many finely printed postcards in lithography. In addition to view-cards they produced artist signed cards from such notables as Wilheim Wachtel.
Gulfport Printing Co. 1920’s-
Gulfport, MS
A printer and publisher of regional lithographic view-cards and other materials. Their images have a soft pale look due to the open halftone employed.
Gulf Stream Card and Distribution Co. (1940’s-)
7801 NW 52nd Street, Miami, FL
A distributor of view-cards depicting scenes from the American South.
Gut & Steers (1913-1916)
New York, NY
A publisher and distributor of fine continuous toned lithographic white border view-cards. Many of their cards were distributed though Union News. Their cards often utilize the same type and style of technical process logos on their backs, such as Photochrome or Polychrome, that were used earlier by the American News Company.
Thor E. Gyger (1930’s-1955)
Adelboden, Switzerland
A publisher of finely printed postcards in color gravure but utilizing only a simple RGB pallet. These cards on textured paper are very matt but tend to be bright in appearance. Gyger produced many local views of the Alps, some specific to location but many generic views as well. He is also noted for a very large set of flower postcards.
