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Valentine & Sons Ltd.

Dundee, Scotland and London, England, United Kingdom (Printer, Publisher, and Photographer)

Valentine and Sons, Ltd., a lithographic printing firm, was founded in Dundee, Scotland in 1825 by John Valentine. His son, James Valentine (1815–1879) became an early pioneer of photography, and by the 1860s his work was being reproduced by the Valentine Company as prints and stereo-views. By 1896, the company began printing postcards, and it grew to become Scotland's leading manufacturer of picture postcards. Employing photographs taken in the expanding tourist market areas, the postcards were mostly printed in Scotland in tinted halftone lithography or as real photograph postcards. Following James Valentine's death, the company was run by his sons, William Dobson Valentine (1844–1907) and George Valentine (1852–1890). In the 1930’s, the company issued "Colourtone" postcards that were printed as tinted halftones.The company was purchased by John Waddington Limited in 1963, which sold it in turn to Hallmark Cards in 1980. Dundee operations ceased in 1994.

Valentine and Sons, Ltd. Credit Line
Valentine and Sons, Ltd. Credit Line

James Valentine (1815–1879), ca. 1850
James Valentine (1815–1879), ca. 1850

References

Anthony Byatt, Picture Postcards and their Publishers (Malvern: Golden Age Postcard Books, 1978), 301–22.