Heraldic Postcard Colouring Books
Auguste Vachon Outaouais Herald Emeritus,
Fellow of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, Member of the International Academy of Heraldry
Fellow of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, Member of the International Academy of Heraldry
Recently my wife and I acquired an intriguing postcard by Raphael Tuck & Sons, the likes of which we had not seen before after collecting over one thousand Canadian heraldic and patriotic postcards. The image outline is printed; the whole is coloured by hand, and the edges are serrated on all four sides in the manner of a stamp (fig. 1). I wondered if the colours had been applied in a studio or by an individual. In the latter case, the colours could be fanciful, unless a colouring guide was provided. A first clue to the puzzle was found on a site devoted to the history of Raphael Tuck and Sons (https://tuckdb.org/history). It states: “1909 through 1914 saw continued growth of sets and Series including the Postcard Painting Books and Picture Postcard Puzzles.” This information led me to the site Tuck DB Ephemera, Father Tuck’s Little Artists Series (https://eph.tuckdb.org/sets/1739).
In Flags of all Nations, number 2523 on the site, I found the same image as the postcard we acquired (fig. 1). The pages to be coloured take the form of detachable pictures rather than postcards. They are perforated horizontally in the centre and vertically on the inside so that halves can be removed, possibly for framing. The publication contains a page printed in colour which serves as a guide to paint the same image printed in line art. The fact that Raphael Tuck & Sons is designated as Publishers to Her Majesty The Queen dates the book from the time of QueenVictoria, namely 1901 or earlier. A subsequent work with the same title (2751) does come in the form of detachable postcards and is also accompanied by an image printed in colour to guide the colouring. Other postcard painting books with heraldic themes are Flags of the British Army (2546) and Arms of All Nations (2547).
In Flags of all Nations, number 2523 on the site, I found the same image as the postcard we acquired (fig. 1). The pages to be coloured take the form of detachable pictures rather than postcards. They are perforated horizontally in the centre and vertically on the inside so that halves can be removed, possibly for framing. The publication contains a page printed in colour which serves as a guide to paint the same image printed in line art. The fact that Raphael Tuck & Sons is designated as Publishers to Her Majesty The Queen dates the book from the time of QueenVictoria, namely 1901 or earlier. A subsequent work with the same title (2751) does come in the form of detachable postcards and is also accompanied by an image printed in colour to guide the colouring. Other postcard painting books with heraldic themes are Flags of the British Army (2546) and Arms of All Nations (2547).
Fig. 1. A version of the Canadian Blue Ensign combined with an artillery soldier. As mentioned below, the flag depicted served to identify Canadian government ships. It was not the flag of Canada. The seven province shield in the fly was in use in 1876 and continued to be displayed in the early twentieth century even after Canada included nine provinces; see http://heraldicscienceheraldique.com/dominion-shields.html, figures 4-7, 13.
Fig. 1. A version of the Canadian Blue Ensign combined with an artillery soldier. As mentioned below, the flag depicted served to identify Canadian government ships. It was not the flag of Canada. The seven province shield in the fly was in use in 1876 and continued to be displayed in the early twentieth century even after Canada included nine provinces; see http://heraldicscienceheraldique.com/dominion-shields.html, figures 4-7, 13.
Fig. 2. ‘Raphael Tuck and Sons’ “Painting” Postcard. Printed in Germany.’ The royal arms of Great Britain are on the left and the Tuck trademark logo on the right.
The inscriptions on the address side of the postcard we acquired (fig. 2) are different from those on the postcards in the books mentioned above: Flags of all Nations (2751), Flags of the British Army (2546), and Arms of All Nations (2547). But the same inscriptions as in figure 2 are found on the postcards in Our Dollies’ Postcard Painting Book (https://eph.tuckdb.org/items/4482) which is numbered 4001. The higher number would normally indicate a somewhat later publication. From the identical inscriptions, it would seem that figure 1 also appeared in a somewhat later edition of Arms of All Nations or possibly Flags of the British Army. I searched several online library catalogues for other publications by Tuck and Sons under these two titles but found nothing that corresponded: 1) AMICUS (Library and Archives Canada Catalogue of Published Material); 2) Library of Congress; 3) British Library (British National Bibliography).
The postcard (fig. 1) is worth noting, not just as a specimen of a hand-painted card detached from a Postcard Painting Book, but as an example of Canadian presence in such books which is a rare occurrence. Another Canadian Flag to appear in Father Tuck’s Patriotic Series of Postcard Painting Books is the Canadian Red Ensign seen on the cover of Flags of the British Empire (https://eph.tuckdb.org/sets/361, 3524). This flag was approved by the British Admiralty in 1892 as the ensign of the Canadian Merchant Marine. Companion postcard painting books in the series are Flags of the Nations (2772) and National Flags (3525), but Canada was at that time a colony and did not have an official national flag.
Contrary to what is stated on postcard (fig. 1), the Canadian Blue Ensign was never Canada’s flag. It was approved in 1870 by despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to be flown on Canadian government vessels. As authorized, the shield in the fly was to include only the arms granted to the four original provinces to form the Canadian Confederation, namely Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As other provinces joined Confederation, various devices derived from provincial seals, badges, and eventually other granted arms were added to the shield which was usually topped by the royal crown and placed within a wreath of maple (not laurel as in fig. 1), all done by popular initiative. These composite shields were placed on the Red Ensign and the Blue Ensign without any official endorsement. In figure 1, the shield includes the four original provinces as well as Manitoba (seal), British Columbia (badge), Prince Edward Island (seal).
Other countries have produced postcard colouring books, for instance: Postkartenmalbuch-Cartes Postales, c. 1900; À travers Paris-Album de cartes postales à colorier, drawn by Henri Gray, 1920: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525067934/f8.planchecontact, and Postkarten-Malbuch, c. 1930. Several postcard albums of the same type date from the Great War, for example: Nos poilus-Cartes postales à colorier, vol. 1, drawings by Gaston Maréchaux 1914-18 (Paris: Ch. Ramel & Cie) — see another edition dated 1917: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10509250z?rk=300430;4; En Alsace-Album de la Grande Guerre- Cartes postales à colorier, art by Henriette Delalain, (Paris: Ch. Ramel & Cie, 1918) with several images featuring the tricolour of France: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105092662.
Today many postcard colouring books advertised on the Internet perpetuate an old tradition. A recent imaginative publication for children includes heraldic postcards, namely the Harry Potter Postcard Coloring Book. As can be expected, the armorial devices in the book are fanciful, but were apparently drawn by someone with knowledge of heraldic art. The book features the coat of arms of each house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: the lion of Gryffindor, the badger of Hufflepuff, the serpent of Slytherin, and the eagle of Ravenclaw. The armorial device of the school itself also brings together the identifying symbols of the four houses with the letter H appearing on an escutcheon in centre of the shield. The use of letters in heraldry is not frequent but acceptable. The school’s motto which reads Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus translates into “Never tickle a sleeping dragon,” but there is no heraldic dragon in the composition. A heraldic dragon combines a scaly body with bat-like wings, eagle claws, and, usually, a barbed tongue and tail. On one page of the book, a monster connects the head, breast, claws and wings of an eagle to the hind part of a horse. This combination differs from other heraldic monsters such as the pegasus which is a winged horse, the griffin which unites the top half of an eagle, including its clawed legs and head with pointed ears, with the hind part of a lion, or the opinicus where the head, neck and wings of a griffin are fused to the body of a lion having its own four legs and a short tail like a bear or camel.
Ephemera collections are important because they mirror many aspects of daily life of which amusements and entertainment are significant parts. In the form of posters and handbills, they document historic events such as elections and wars. They help research the art of design. Paper patterns for sewing or knitting offer insight into hobbies and fashion. Some collections express national identity. For instance, postcards are a major pictorial source for the study of Canadian patriotism as well as the use and evolution of Canadian emblems. Although libraries and archives do acquire ephemera, their collections are, by the short-lived nature of the material, usually fragmented. In this sense, the efforts of those who strive to assemble and document Tuck ephemera and share their knowledge with the public merit encouragement (see https://eph.tuckdb.org/credits).