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 ?
S - PUBLISHERS page 2
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Sing Fat & Co. 1906-
San Francisco, CA
A publisher of postcards depicting Chinese life in San Francisco. Their Oriental Bazaar on California Street and Grant Avenue was the first pagoda style building in the city. It was designed to attract visitors that would buy postcards and other tourist related products. The Bazaar itself became the subject of many cards.
Sithens Post Card Co. (1920-1929)
Atlantic City, NJ
A publisher of halftone lithographic white border view-cards depicting scenes around the popular resort of Atlantic City.
Alfred Fletcher Smiley 1944-1955
Lake Minniwaska, NY
When Alfred Homans Smiley visited Coxing Pond in the Shawangunk Mountains in 1875 he fell in love with the place and quickly purchased the land around it. By the following year he began building an inn high on the cliffs above the lake he renamed Minniwaska. In 1944 ownership of this property, which had grown into a large resort passed down to his sole remaining grandson Fletcher. While the resort had produced many postcards over the years, most notably by Detroit Publishing, Alfred Fletcher Smilley began publishing lithographic cards in monotones under his own name. In 1955 the Lake Minniwaska resort was sold to its General Manager Kenneth B. Phillips, Sr.
Smiling Cow (1936-)
Boothbay Harbor and Camden, ME
A group of tourist oriented stores that published black & white view-cards of the mid-Maine coast. Their cards were printed by the Albertype Company.
Albert Smith, Ltd. (1907-)
Jersey, Channel Islands
A local photographer who turned many of his images into postcards. These cards were printed in France using color gravure with a distinct RGB pallet.
W.H. Smith & Son (1905-1906)
Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
A publisher of view-cards, railways, novelties, real photos, and a series of woodcuts depicting London. All their cards were issued in series. Some cards have the words Smith’s Circulating Library printed in the stamp box. These cards were manufactured in Great Britain. Some bare the initials JV on the image side indicating they were printed by Valentine’s.
Solomon Brothers, Ltd. 1911-1918
London, England
A large publisher of halftone lithographic postcards. They produced a large series of view-cards under the Sun-Rays Series name. Greeting cards and artist signed cards were also produced, and during the First World War patriotic cards became their staple. In addition they published real photo cards shot in a studio with captions added.
Souther-Mears Co. (1908-1910)
Boston, MA
Published view-cards of Massachusetts. Many of these hand colored cards were distributed through A.M. Simon.
Southern Bargain House (1910-1918)
Richmond, VA
Published a large number of lithographic view-cards depicting the Richmond area. Many of these postcards focus on historical sites dating back to the American Civil War. Some cards also reproduce colorized versions of vintage newspaper pictures from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News.
South-West News Co. (1908-)
Kansas City, MO
A publisher and distributor of printed materials including postcards. They were an agent for the American News Company for much of their history.
Southwest Post Card Co. (1938-1957)
Albuquerque, NM
A distributor of view-cards of the American Southwest and other Western themes.
Souvenir Novelty Co. (1910-1927)
Salt Lake City, UT
A publisher of local souvenir books and postcards in lithography. Many of their cards were printed by Curt Teich.
Souvenir Post Card Co. 1905-1914
268 Canal Street, New York, NY
A major publisher of a variety of postcard types. They used three different printers over the course of their business, which changed the look of their cards. Some of their early cards were printed with the name E. Frey on them who may have been the owner. The company was purchased by Valentine and Sons. and they produced cards in America under the name Valentine-Souvenir Company.
Color cards 1-3099 and 12000-15000.
Green & white 3100-5999 and 15000-up. Many of these cards were reprints of color issues (often with glitter to enhance their dull look).
Black & white 6000-11999 in halftone lithography.
Souvenir Publishing Co. (1907-1915)
San Francisco, CA
A publisher of books and lithographic postcards.
Springfield News Co. (1902-)
Springfield, MA
A publisher and distributor of local postcards for the American News Company.
Sprouse & Son (1908-1912)
Tacoma, Washington
Publishers and importers of black & white, monochrome, and color postcards. While most of their cards depicted scenes of Washington and Oregon they produced other types of cards such as exaggerations as well. Many of their cards were imported from Germany.
Gerhard Stalling AG 1851-
Oldenburg, Germany
An large publisher and printer of illustrated books. They are known for their children’s magazine Dideldum and for promoting the work of Nazis such as the architect Albert Speer. They produced a number of lithographic postcards printed in an early form of offset with halftones in a rosette pattern. They have an office in Berlin.
State Art Publishing Agency (1939)
Moscow, U.S.S.R.
A publisher of art reproductions with many produced as postcards. Their cards seem to have been printed in a higher quality than other lithographic cards produced by the State monopoly IZOGIZ. The titles on these cards were printed in both Russian and English indicating that they were directed toward a foreign audience. They may have been part of an effort to build an alliance with the English speaking world as World War Two was breaking out.
Star Stationary Co. (1940’s)
Newark, NJ
A publisher of Linen postcards depicting views of New Jersey. They are particularly known for their many scenes of the Jersey shore.
Stehli Freres 1902-1995
Zurich, Switzerland
The Stehli brothers were an important printer of art books and fine prints. They also produced many high quality postcards in continuous tone color lithography. They are especially known for their artist signed cards of views and of animals. The borders on many of their cards are irregular to simulate the deckle of a fine art print. Stehli Freres was purchased by Rosenstiel’s in 1995.
Stengel & Co. (1898-1917)
Dresden, Saxony
A major publisher and printer of art cards depicting famous European paintings. Their chromolithographs often employed more than twenty litho-stones to achieve subtle colors. These are possibly the finest examples of high quality printing to be found on any postcard. Stengel’s cards were distributed by Misch & Company in Great Britain, and by the Rotograph Company in the United States from whom they took over their production of art cards.
Stengel also published a great number of worldwide view-cards. Some have a similar look to their art cards in that they are artist drawn and printed in fine continuous tone lithography, but they are only made with a simple RGB pallet. Despite these color limitations the artistry in blending the limited number of hues is handled with such skill to give the illusion of a broader pallet.
Many more of Stengel’s view-cards were produced in black & white, and some with hand coloring. Because of the simplicity of these cards they bare little resemblance in quality to their better known art cards, and they can easily pass for the undistinguished cards made by other publishers.
Edward Stern & Co. (1870-1936)
114 N. 12th, Philadelphia, PA
A printer of books since 1870. Went on to publish a number of art postcards. They are best known for their four sets of Roosevelt Bear cards. Rufus Hill owned many of their copyrights and his name appears on many cards.
Ignatz Stern 1905-1910
578 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Published halftone lithographic view-cards mostly depicting scenes from Long Island, Brooklyn, and New York City though other far off eastern locations were covered as well. His early black & white cards used a noticibly open halftone pattern. These cards were printed in Leipzig, Germany.
Thomas Stevens Ltd. 1869-1940
Cox Street, Coventry, England
A weaver since 1869, who began producing silk bookmarks in 1876 named Stevengraphs. Steven’s went on to expanded this process into creating other types of silk images including elaborate postcards in 1903. His factory was destroyed during a German air raid in 1940. At least 117 different titles were produced.
Stewart & Woolf (1900-1940’s)
8-9 Charles Street, London, England
A publisher of many unique artist drawn postcards and playing cards. Many of their early cards were printed in continuous tone lithography in Bavaria. These include series on holidays, literature, opera, and sayings. A very distinct set depicts views presented in black silhouette form with liberal doses of metallic overprinting. They later went on to publish a number of view-cards in halftone lithography.
Seneca Ray Stoddard 1860’s-1915
Glens Falls, NY
Stoddard began his career as a commercial painter of signs and railroad car interiors. In the 1860’s he joined George Conkey in the production of stereo-views of the Adirondack Mountains of New York. By 1873 Stoddard was taking photos for the Adirondack Railway and publishing his own guide books. His work as a photographer, writer, and cartographer contributed to the formation of the Adirondack Park in 1892. He produced over 10,000 photographs, which also included images of Alaska, Palestine, and Norway. Many of his photos were published as printed postcards for the National Railway News Company in Albany.
Frederick A. Stokes Co. 1890-1941
New York, NY
This important publisher was born from the earlier F.A. Stokes & Brother. They produced many finely printed illustated books and were a pioneer of the three plate color engraving process. They also published a great many lithographic postcards of varying subjects covering the comic, romantic, historical, and patriotic. They hired 48 artists to produce their initial sets of cards, which became big news at that time. Snna W. Betts, Anita Le Roy, and Richard Felton Outcault all produced artist signed cards for them. They also produced a number of paper dolls.
H.H. Stratton (1908-1915)
Chattanooga, TN
Published international view-cards and manufactured patriotic souvenirs. They are best known for their postcard series depicting scenes of the Great White Fleet at call in various ports around the world. Some of their black & white printed cards had false real photo backs. This may have been an effort to portray the image as an unaltered news item for the printed image, though taken from a photo is difficult to misperceive as one. Stratton also published Tarjeta Postals of Cuba.
Arthur Strauss (1900-1905)
New York, NY
Published black & white lithographic postcards in an open halftone. Some blue and red were added to the American flag within their distinct front logo design and also to their political cards. Some of their later postcards were printed in full color.
Ferdinand Strauss & Co. (1890’s)
New York, NY
A publisher of eight known pioneer souvenir cards in halftone lithography. They consist of four views of Washington, DC, three views of New York, and one of Lake George, NY. In addition to postcards Strauss produced a variety of printed toys and novelties.
Strobridge Lithographers 1860-1960
Cincinnati, OH
A major printer of fine lithographic products since 1860. They published a wide variety of postcards types. The Company was purchased by H.S. Crocker in 1960.
Theodor Stroefer 1867-
Nuremburg, Bavaria
An important fine arts publisher. The company began printing art cards when postcards became popular. Their early halftone lithographic cards employed rosette patterns.
F.G.O. Stuart (1901-1915)
57-61 Cromwell Road, Southampton, England
A landscape and marine photographer of Hampshire, London, and the Channel Islands. Only late in his career did Stuart begin publishing many of these images as lithographic and hand colored postcards that were printed in Germany. He is also well noted for his real photo postcards of the large steamships that docked at Southampton.
Success Postal Card Co. (1910-1922)
New York, NY
Published postcards in black & white rotogravure and color halftone lithography with a limited pallet. Their cards were printed in Berlin, Germany.
Sun News Co. (1940-)
St. Petersburg, FL
A publisher of many Linen and Photochome postcards depicting local views and tourist attractions.
Sunny Scenes, Inc. (1929-1939)
Winter Park, FL
Printed and published hand colored view-cards of a number of States but predominantly of Florida, California, and Hawaii. These cards are characterized by their bright colors, generic subjects, and photo like appearance.
Ernst G. Svanstrom (1908-1914)
Stockholm, Sweden
A major publisher of postcards, especially holiday and view-cards. These cards were manufactured in sepia and with hand coloring. Many of there cards were sold in Russia and deal in Russian themes.
Frank Swallow (1904-1942)
Exeter, NH
A publisher of open halftone lithographic view-cards of northern New England. Many of their cards were crudely hand colored.
Swedish American Line 1914-1975
Gothenburg, Sweden
Founded as the North American Shipping Corporation they opened a route between Sweden and New York. With their major competitors, the German lines, out of service during the First world war they were able to rapidly expand. They published a number of postcards depicting their ships in different styles over the years. Though they carried some freight into the 1980’s, passenger service and the postcards made for them ended in 1975.
E.A. Sweetman & Son (1920-1928)
Tunbridge Wells, England
A photographer, publisher, and printer of gravure and real photo postcards depicting views of southern England. Different types of cards were made under different names such as the Domino Series, Solograph, and Sunshine Series that included hand colored photos. Sologloss were glossy sepia photos and Sologlaze were toned in a deep brown. Sweetman also printed cards in black & white and sepia photogravure under the names De Luxe Photogravure and Solograph de Luxe.
