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SILK POSTCARDS AND MOUNTED CARDS

manufactured by William H Grant


 
William Grant wove many different silks intended for his postcards. The following index is a comprehensive listing of these, derived from Geoffrey Goddens' Stevengraphs and other Victorian silk pictures, from Chris Radley's The Woven Silk Postcard, and from information provided by members of the Stevengraph Collectors' Association.

Many of the silks do not have a woven title, and several of the postcards also lack a printed title on the card.
These untitled silks are included either with the title attributed to them in the Grant advertising literature of the time, or as a reasonable interpretation of the woven image.

 
 
 
 

In the following listing, the catalogue number given is of the postcard, not the silk design.

Postcards
A postcard is typically 51/2 inches by 31/2 inches (14.0cm by 9.0cm), with the back of the card divided in two - half for the message, and half for the address.

Christmas cards
There are basically three different versions to be recorded:-

1. Christmas message cards:
These are ordinary postcards, with divided backs, where the wording is overtly seasonal.
These are recoded as ordinary cards, and do not have any special numbering.
2. Christmas cards for sale:
The early versions looked like ordinary postcards with the silk on the front, but instead of a divided back, the Christmas and New Year dates were printed on the reverse. Later versions looked like ordinary postcards with the silk on the front, but are twice the width, and folded in the middle. There is a ribbon through two holes on the left side which attached an inserted greetings card.
These have the addition of the "-cc" suffix (for Christmas card) to the catalogue number.
3. Mr (later Alderman) and Mrs Grant Christmas cards:
Between circa 1907 and 1930, Alderman & Mrs Grant issued their own cards. The early ones looked like the "for sale" versions with the silk on the front and a ribbon holding the greetings card, and the later ones had the silk inside a folded card. In all versions however, the Alderman & Mrs Grant names were pre-printed, either on the insert or usually on the front cover.
These have the addition of the "-fcc" suffix (for Family Christmas card) to the catalogue number.

Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908
At the Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908, these same silks were mounted into a special large sized card, with a plain green border. Each card is typically 53/4 inches by 41/4 inches (14.7cm by 11.0cm), and there is nothing printed on the back of the card.
On the front however there is the additional printed words "SOUVENIR OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION, 1908".
These have the addition of the "-fb" suffix (for Franco-British) to the catalogue number.

Large cards
It would appear that after the closure of the Exhibition, Grant continued to sell the same silks in similar cards. The size and design is the same for the Exhibition silks, except for the omission of the additional words.
These have the addition of the "-lc" suffix (for large card) to the catalogue number.

 
 
 

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This page was created on 27 June 2004
This page was last updated on 27 May 2014

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