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 ?
P - PUBLISHERS page 1
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Pacific Coast Steamship Co. 1879-1916
San Francisco, CA
After years of competitive fighting the Pacific Coast Steamship Company emerged as the largest steamship line serving ports from California to Alaska. They published a great number of postcards depicting the many ports and views along their routes and of their steamers. Most of their cards were printed and hand colored by the Albertype Company.
Pacific Novelty Co. (1908-1960’s)
San Francisco, CA
A major publisher and printer of view-cards depicting California in halftone lithography. They produced cards in different styles, most of which were printed in Germany. They eventually sold off their own printing department to Herman Vogel who renamed it Quadricolor Press. Pacific Novelty went on to produce photochromes that were manufactured in the United States.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission (1918-1922)
New York, NY
Published view-cards depicting scenes from the State Parks of New York and New Jersey along the Hudson River that they administered. Theses postcards were printed through the Albertype Company and the American News Company.
Pallis & Cotzias (1900-1906)
Athens, Greece
A publisher of local view-cards, mostly historic ruins, in monochrome, black & white, and hand colored. Titles were often printed in both Greek and English to appeal to tourists.
Frank Palmer (1906-1920)
Spokane, WA
A photographer of Washington State views. Went on to produce real photo postcards.
A. Papeghin (1910-1920’s)
Paris and Tours, France
A publisher of black and white postcards that largely depicted local views of amusement areas and sporting events including the Olympics. Most of the subjects found on their cards were centered around Paris. They published a photo book of Paris in 1919.
Harold A. Parker 1900-1930
Pasadena, CA
A commercial photographer who opened a photo studio in Pasadena in 1904. He captured parades, missions, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and many views of southern California and the Southwest. Much of his early work revolved around creating hand colored lantern slides and autochomes. Later he began publishing his images as hand colored printed postcards, many manufactured by the Albertype Company. His wife Marjorie took over the studio when he died but eventually sold it to the Dickson & Thurber Studio. After passing though a number of hands most of his negatives could not find a home and were discarded in a landfill.
Pastime Novelty Co. (1914)
1334 Broadway, New York, NY
A publisher of prints, novelties, and postcards. Noted for their attention grabbing items such as nudes and the risqué including the controversial images of Kaloma and September Morn.
Patton Brothers & Cooke 1893-1934
340 State Street, Salem, OR
A bookstore and stationary run by Edwin Cooke Patton and his brother Hal. Besides his work as a magician and manager of the town’s opera house, Edwin was also a photographer who created real photo postcards under The Patton Post Card Company name. As demand for postcards grew, the brothers opened the Post Card Studio in 1911, which became the largest card shop in the Northwest. They also published many printed view-cards of northwest Oregon and the Pacific coast. The postcard shop was turned over to Everett Lavallour in 1914, and Edwin’s negatives were sold to the photographer Charles Wesley Andrews following World War One. Edwin died in 1929 but his brother Hal ran the bookstore until his death in 1934.
Frank Patterson 1926-1942
Medford, OR
A photographer who published real photo postcards of Oregon and California. Patterson began working in photography in 1915 by producing stereoview cards. He also worked for Bear Photo in San Francisco between 1946 and 1959.
P-C (1920’s)
Paris, France
A publisher of real photo postcards depicting women, nudes, and views, in addition to their many holiday cards. They are probably best known for the view-cards from the colonies of the French Empire. Their glossy photos were made in a high contrast that left very little grey tone behind. They were then overpainted with a pallet of five transparent colors in a flat style. Only their skies tended to have some gradations. The final effect is very bold and striking.
Paynter Brothers (1910)
San Jose, Costa Rica
These photographers published postcards of their work depicting local scenes and ethnic types. Though their continuous toned cards were printed in a simple RGB pallet the maintain a distinct look, which is enhanced by their glossy finish.
Penobscot Studios (1937-1940)
Stonington, ME
Published real photo postcards of the Hancock County region in Maine. These cards tend to have large borders.
W.B. Perkins (1908-1920)
Lead, SD
A photographer that had been shooting pictures of the Black Hills of South Dakota since the turn of the 20th century. He eventually became a local importer and jobber for postcards in this region. Perkins published many of his own photos as lithographic postcards that were printed both in Germany and the United States.
Louis Pernitzsch (1862-1926)
Leipzig, Saxony
A fine publisher of illustrated books and eventually postcards in heliogravure.
Perry Pictures 1897-
Malden, MA
A publisher of postcards and visual aids, including the Perry Magazine, to enhance the education of children. This business was founded by teachers Eugene Ashton and Ella Perry. They met in Provincetown and produced a large set of cards depicting this town. These cards were usually printed in halftone lithographic monotones on strongly dyed papers.
Hermann A. Peters (1910-1935)
Bonn, Germany
A publisher and large distributor of lithographic prints and artist signed postcards of great variety. Many of these cards were printed by B.G. Teubner.
PFB (See Paul Finkenrath)
Philadelphia Post Card Co. (1901-1913)
Philadelphia, PA
A publisher of regional view-cards and famous actors.
Philco Publishing Co. 1906-1934
1-6 Holborn Place, London, England
A publisher of many different types of artist signed cards and photo based view-cards as collotypes and photogravures. They are noted for three large sets representing Faith, Hope, and Charity. Most of these cards were printed in Germany but a set or real photo birthday greeting cards were manufactured in Italy.
Philipp & Kramer (1894-1902)
Vienna, Austria
An early publisher of fine lithographic postcards. They produced exposition and artist signed cards from notables such as Kirchner.
Photo & Art Postal Card Co. (1905-1933)
New York, NY
A publisher of view-cards depicting the mid-Atlantic region with a predominance of scenes from Greater New York and Long Island. Their early cards were printed in color halftone lithography and their later cards as black & white collotypes.
Photo Belge (1914-1925)
Brussels, Belgium
Published artist signed postcards. They produced a large number of black & white cards illustrating battle scenes from the First World War.
Photo Brom (1907)
Vienna, Austria
A publisher of postcards of women and view-cards depicting scenes within the Austrian Empire and neighboring countries. They also produced real photo and printed cards in both sepia and color gravure. A different Photobrom company in Brussels, Belgium published photochrome postcards in the 1950’s.
Photochrom Co. Ltd. 1896-
London and Turnbridge Wells, England
A major publisher and printer of tourist albums, guide books, and postcards. They originally produced Christmas cards, and began publishing postcards around 1903 after securing the exclusive English license for the Swiss photochrom process. This technique was used to produce a great number of view-cards of England. While they captured the same fine details as the Swiss prints their pallet was much softer and reduced. Most of the cards they produced captured worldwide views as real photos or were printed in black & white, monochrome, and color. They also published many advertising, comic, silhouette, novelty, panoramic, and notable artist signed cards in named series as well. The number of titles Photochrom produced may exceed 40,000.
Apart from their better known photochroms they produced their Celesque series of view-cards printed in halftone lithography. They have a distinct red, yellow, and blue pallet.
Night Series - Lithographic haftones in two colors depicting London.
Carbofoto Series - Black & white real photos cards.
Sepiatone Series - Sepia real photo cards.
Grano Series - View-cards printed in black & white.
Exclusive Photo-Color Series - View-cards printed in color.
Duotype Process Series - View-cards printed tin two tones.
Photogravure and Velvet Finish Series - Postcards printed in gravure.
Photochrome Process Co. 1935-1940
Philadelphia, PA
This company was established by some of the former employees of the Detroit Publishing Company. It was an attempt to revive the printing of postcards through the Phostint Process after Detroit went out of business but they were unsuccessful in capturing the same rich look of the originals. Many now refer to the finish of these soft dull cards as frosted to distinguish them from the same images that were previously printed by Detroit.
Photo-Electrotype Engraving Co. (1880’s-1915)
New York, NY
Produced printing plates for the reproduction of black & white images in halftone. They were an early publisher of postcards depicting scenes of New York. The open halftone and crude hand coloring added to their images yielded postcards of poor quality.
Photogelatine Engraving Co., Ltd. (1910-1953)
Toronto, ON Canada
A major publisher and printer of Canadian view-cards in gravure. These cards were made in black & white, monochrome, and in color.
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