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 ?
N - PUBLISHERS
Paul Nadar 1874-1939
Rue d’Anjou, Paris, France
The son of the Famous French photographer Felix Tournachon (Nadar). Paul began working at his father’s studio in 1874. He investigated the many possibilities of photography such as capturing views from hot air balloons. In 1890 he made a trip to Central Asia using George Eastman’s new flexible bromide film. The collaboration worked so well that Nadar became the representative for Kodak products in France. Both Paul and his father photographed many famous people of their time but Paul’s emphasis on those at the cutting edge of society strained their relationship. Paul not only produced portraits of celebrities of the stage, he hosted the first exhibition of Impressionist painters.
In the 1920’s a good number of real photo postcards were produced under the Nadar name, most of them of full nudes with some of them having hand coloring. But there is serious doubt to whether the cards of nudes were actually made from Nadar’s photographs. Another unknown publisher may have borrowed Nadar’s logo to enhance the prestige of these cards and make them more sellable.
Shlomo and Sonja Narinsky 1905-1960
Jerusalem, Palestine
These husband and wife photographers migrated to Palestine from Russia in 1905 where they set up United Photography, a studio in partnership with Yancov Houtimsky producing many views. They later settled in Cairo, Egypt after being expelled by the Ottoman regime in 1916 but they returned to Jerusalem after the end of the First World War. While in Egypt Sonja as a woman gained access to local harems and produced the first intimate photo portraits of Arab women. She continued this work back in Palestine producing 117 images that were reproduced as roto-gravure postcards by the printer Jumal Brothers in 1921. These cards were titled in Arabic, English, and Hebrew but not always with the same meanings. Many of these images were also reproduced in books. They eventually moved to France and set up a new studio in Paris in 1932. Arrested by the Nazis during the Second World War, they were exchanged and moved to back to Palestine.
E. Nash Co. (1908-1910)
New York, NY
A well known illustrator and publisher of high quality holiday cards.
National Art Co. (1876-1930)
235 W 23rd Street, New York, NY
In addition to prints they published view-cards, animal, greeting, and holiday postcards, many of which were artist signed. Archie Gunn was one of their more notable artists.
National Art Views Co. (1903-1904)
New York, NY
An important early publisher of national view-cards in color, black & white, sepia gravure, and with hand coloring. These cards were printed in Germany. They were purchased by the Rotograph Company in 1904 and many of their images were reprinted as cards under the Rotograph name.
National Colortype Co. (1906-1926)
Bellevue, KY
A printer and publisher of view-cards depicting scenes from Pennsylvania to Texas. These lithographic cards were printed in black & white halftones with crude hand coloring added in broad swatches to only selective areas. They were purchased by Grote Industries.
C.M. Nelson (1906-1910)
Boston, MA
A photographer who turned many of his images into real photo postcards. Nelson is best known for his views of New England and New York printed with large birch bark borders. These borders were not uniformly hand drawn but were photographs themselves and unique to each individual image they were paired with. Many of these cards were distributed by the R.C. Co. of Boston.
Nenke & Ostermier (1908-1941)
Dresden, Saxony
They produced various printed materials including postcards that utilized the photochromie process. Most of their cards were of views including a great many generics. They also created large postcard sets depicting Alpine flowers and Dutch scenes. The bright clear colors on these cards makes many stand out and makes them look more modern than they actually are. Photochromies were expensive to make but they sold as higher quality cards demanding higher prices.
Neue Photographische Gesellschaft AG 1894-1948
Berlin, Germany
The New Photographic Society was a member organization of photographers founded by Arthur Schwarz. In 1899 their 35 members turned the group into a Limited Corporation. Their members published many real photo postcards and stereo-views, and they manufactured photo paper as well. As demand for postcards grew they started publishing artist signed cards in halftone lithography. They also printed real photo cards for other companies such as Rotograph. In 1922 they were taken over by Mimosa who carried on their name until 1948.
Rodolphe Neuer (1912-1914)
Tangier, Morocco
A photographer who published brightly colored continuous toned lithographic cards. These cards depicted ethnic nudes and scenes from daily life in North Africa. He was also a local distributor of stereo-views for Lehnert & Landrock. Neuer remains a mysterious figure and there is some speculation that his name was an alias for Rudolf Lehnert.
Neurdein et Cie (1860’s-1919)
Paris, France
Published postcards of the photographer Neurdein Freres. In addition to his many urban French scenes Neurdein produce images of nudes, panoramas, military themes, and many scenes from various French colonies and of French speaking Canada. He also provided the photographs of paintings for many art cards. Many postcards neither carry his name or logo but just the letters N D. His negatives were eventually purchased by Roger-Viollet.
J.J. Newberry & Co. 1911-1961
Stroudsburg, PA
A chain of Five & Dime stores founded by John Josiah Newberry. They published a variety of postcard types over the years. They had grown from 7 stores across Pennsylvania 1n 1918 to 565 stores nation wide when they were purchased by McCrory in 1961.
O. Newman Co. (1904-1918)
Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA
Founded by Oscar Newman, this company published lithographic postcards, consisting mostly of holiday cards and views of southern California. They also published a set on the San Francisco earthquake and the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. Some of their cards were printed with the Newman Post Card Co. logo on them.
Newman Post Card Co. (1907-1960’s)
Los Angeles, CA
A publisher and printer of lithographic postcards, mostly views of southern California, with some cards of Hawaii and Nevada and the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. They were related to the O. Newman Company. Acquired by H.S. Crocker in the 1960’s.
New England News (1904-1924)
Boston, MA
An important distributor of postcards for the American News Company. They also published many of their own white border lithographic view-cards of New York and New England. These postcards were printed in Leipzig and Dresden, Germany.
New Orleans News Co. (1885-)
New Orleans, LA
A publisher and distributor of maps, guides, and postcards of Louisiana for the American News Company. Most of their cards depicted scenes of New Orleans.
New York Central Railroad 1831-1968
New York, NY
A major railroad line in the Northeast. Their most famous train was the 20th Century Limited that ran between Grand Central Station in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago. This express train began operations in 1902 and in 1906 the Railroad instituted a giveaway program of postcards to their passengers. These first cards issued were polychromes of scenes along their Water Level Route through the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. The Rochester News Company, a subsidiary of the American News Company produced many of these cards. The Detroit publishing Company would later contract cards out to the Railroad. The beauty of the cards were used to reinforced the romantic notions of traveling by this Line. This renowned train ended its service in 1967 and a year later the Company merged with their chief rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad, to become Penn Central.
New York Edison Co. 1901-1920
New York, NY
This utility company was formed as a conglomerate out of the many gas and electric companies that were in business in New York at the turn of the 20th century. They published a series of halftone lithographic postcards depicting scenes of New York at night under electric light illumination. Since they were promoting a product rather than tourism many of their compositions are untypical. As they continued to buy up more of their competitors they changed their name to Consolidated Edison in 1920.
New York Gravure Corp. (1908-1930’s)
New York, NY
Printers of high quality illustrated images in gravure for books and postcards.
New York, Ontario & Western Railway 1880-1937
Buffalo, New York
This railway formed after the takeover of the N.Y. & Oswego Midland Railroad. Under the leadership of Thomas P. Fowler the railway not only expanded its services in delivering dairy and coal, but began looking toward tourism, especially with the new resort hotels springing up in the Catskill and Shawangunk Mountains to gain further revenue. With a new emphasis on tourism the railway began to publish view-cards of the scenic places along its routes and of its resort destinations. Because this railroad operated in very difficult terrain it was costly to build and maintain. As coal prices dropped and the resorts slowly closed during the Great Depression the railway fell on hard times and became known as the Old & Weary. It filled for reorganization in 1937 and was finally liquidated in 1957.
New York Zoological Society 1895-1993
Bronx, NY
This organization is more commonly referred to as the Bronx Zoo which opened in 1899. They published guides and a great many postcards of zoo animals through a variety of printers. The Rotogravure Company printed a fine card set for them in black & white and color gravure though their name does not appear on these cards. The Detroit Publishing Company also produced sets for them on depicting sea creatures found at the New York Aquarium. They became the World Conservation Society in 1993 running a number of different institutions that protect animals.
Ernest Nister 1877-1909
Nuremberg, Bavaria and London, England
Nister began his life in printing when he took over a lithography shop in Nuremberg in 1877. His success led him to open a branch in London in 1888. Nister is famous for the many mechanical children’s books he published between 1891 and 1900. His fine illustrations carried over onto many early artist signed postcards produced in chromolithography. Many other topics were also published such as animals, children, decorative mottos, literary figures, historical scenes, humor, and of corse mechanical cards. Nister produced postcards for a number of different publishers. All printing was done in Bavaria.
Nomis Mfg. Co. 1915-1930
33 Union Square, New York, NY
Published black & white lithographic postcards of views depicting the American East with a very open halftone. Many of their images were crudely hand colored with a limited pallet using stenciling.
Nordisk Konst (1925-1936)
Stockholm, Sweden
A large publisher of postcards in color lithography, black & white colotypes, and as real photo cards. They covered a wide variety of subjects including views, movie stars, and holiday cards.
North American Post Card Co. (1911-1926)
Kansas City, MO
Published real photo postcards of the Mid-West, Western themes, and famous personalities of the American West. Many of these real photo postcards were made from images supplied by William H. Martin.
North German Lloyd Line 1857-1970
Bremen, Germany
A steamship line formed by the merger of four smaller lines in 1857. In 1858 they began trans-Atlantic service to New York followed by routes to other continents. By 1893 they had 80 ships in service and would soon begin a tradition of publishing postcards depicting them. A notable set combines portraits of German Royalty alongside their ships. Images of their ports of call were also produced. When the First World War broke out many of their ships took refuge in American ports only to be seized when the United States entered the War in 1917. All of their remaining vessels were taken from them after the War for reparations. By 1920 they began to lease ships and eventually built up a new fleet, but the same scenario played itself out in World War Two and they had to start over again once more. In 1970 they merged with the Hamburg American Line to become HAPAG-Lloyd. Because they produced postcards throughout their long history these cards were printed in a wide variety of methods and styles.
Norwood Souvenir Co. (1910-)
Cincinnati, OH
Publisher of regional view-cards in dull brown halftone lithography and with hand coloring.
Novelty Mfg. & Art Co. Ltd. (1912-1926)
Montreal, QC Canada
A publisher of national view-cards of Canada and Western Canadian themes in halftone lithography.
Noyer Studio (1910-1940’s)
Paris, France
A large photo studio supervised by the well known photographer Alfred Noyer. Many of his early cards were photo reproductions of drawn, painted, or sculpted artworks printed in halftone lithography. He also produced illustrated photo cards of the First World War, many with heavy patriotic or allegorical themes. By the 1920’s he began producing cards of children and women, many of which were nudes or risque images. His boldly hand colored seaside figures became his most recognized style. Many of his photos from this time were heavily toned in blue or sepia. Noyer was a member of the Salon de Paris. He photographed paintings for the Salon and other institutions for the production of art cards. While many cards carry his distinctive logo or his name, others are just marked AN.
Everett I. Nye (1910-1920)
Wellfleet, MA
Nye, who owned the iron works on Commercial Street was an important member of the Wellfleet business community. He published many view-cards depicting the Wellfleet area of Cape Cod. These cards were produced through a number of different printers.
