There was one major company producing postcards in Europe: the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft (NPG), Berlin Steglitz. Founded in 1894 by Arthur Schwarz, the NPG established several affiliated companies in European countries and were the leading producers of a large variety of postcard motifs.
- Société Industrielle de Photographie - S.I.P.
at Paris, France
- Rotary Photographic Company Ltd.
at London, Great Britain
- La Compagnia Rotografica
at Milan, Rome, Florence, Italy
- Rotograph Company
at
New York, USA
- Photobrom GmbH
at Vienna, Austria
The NPG introduced the so-called "Kilometer-Photografie", for which the photographic paper (silver-bromide) was used on large rolls for the printing process. This allowed the mass-production of postcards.
http://www.npg-steglitz.de/index.htm
Another important publisher next to the NPG, at least in Germany, was Rotophot (RPH). The company was founded at Berlin in 1900. Thousands of postcards of various topics were published in the "golden era" of photo postcards. A comprehensive archive of all Rotophot postcards and further information is provided by the American postcard collector Jean Ritsema:
http://rosspostcards.com/RPH_Years.html
http://rosspostcards.com/TheBeginnings.html
http://rosspostcards.com/RPH_Model_ID.html
Other common logos of postcard producers which we found in our postcard collection are:
- GG Co - Georg Gerlach Co., Berlin, Germany
- GL Co - Gustav Liersch & Co. - Berlin, Germany
- Ph - Photochemie, Berlin, Germany
- E A S - E. A. Schwerdtfeger - Berlin
A good overview for available postcards of German postcard producers is provided by akpool.de.
We are still in a learning process about the complex topic of printers and publishers. For further interest we recommend this amazing website:
http://www.tpa-project.info
which offers almost scientific knowledge about printers and publishers, with a focus on german companies.
Due to our preference for portrait photography from the Belle Epoque, the logos shown here next to NPG and their affiliates are mostly from France.
Another large listing of publishers of postcards can be found on the website of the Metropolitan Postcard Club:
http://www.metropostcard.com/metropcpublishers.html
More information about publishers and their logos and signatures might also be found on http://cartophilie.be.
Besides the signatures or logos of the printers and publishers, there have to be distinguished the logos of the photographic studios like i.e. Reutlinger, Nadar, Walery or Boyer.
Reference:
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Gütgemann-Holtz, Wilma; Holtz, Wolfgang (Eds.)
NPG - Neue Photographische Gesellschaft
Exhibition catalogue, Berlin 2009
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Photo credit: Peter Weiss, Hamburg
taken from:
Wilma Gütgemann-Holtz, Wolfgang Holtz (Eds.)
NPG - Neue Photographische Gesellschaft
2009
different types of logos
by the Reutlinger Studio - Paris
recommended websites:
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