About Series : Series 119,000
This was Walch’s 4th series of coloured cards printed by C.G. Röder in Germany. The previous series were:
1905 B-24000
1905 Series G-1906
1906 Series G
It would have been expected that Walch’s call this Series H, but they printed no series name on the cards at all. This was probably because this time the cards came from the printer ready cut up and packed into bundles of 50, with nothing needing to be printed on the back, so they did not bother to run them through the press just to add a series name. In earlier series, Walch’s had to print everything on the back of the cards.
Series Content: There were nine cards which had been in the previous series, Series G, but new photos were supplied and new plates made so the appearance of some is quite different. (The printer’s numbers are as on the back of the cards.)
119380 The Bend, Huon Road.
119381 Brown’s River Road.
119382 Port Arthur.
119383 The Pavement Eagle Hawk Neck
119384 Mountain Lake, Huon Road.
119385 Round Tower, Port Arthur.
119386 Hobart from Bellerive.
119387 Government House, Hobart
119388 The Post Office, Hobart
There were 21 cards which had not been in Series G, but some had been in earlier coloured series. New photos were supplied to the printer and new plates were made.
119389 Elizabeth Street, Hobart.
119390 The Derwent Lighthouse, Hobart.
119391 The Water Works, Hobart.
119392 The Water Works, Hobart.
119393 Silver Falls, Hobart.
119394 Government House, Hobart.
119395 Forest Hut, Hobart.
119396 New Norfolk.
119397 New Norfolk Bridge.
119398 Eagle Hawk Neck, Port Arthur.
119399 Huon Bridge and Picnic Hotel.
119400 Cape Raoul.
119401 Mount Wellington from Huon Road.
119402 Rocking Stone, Mt. Wellington.
119403 River Derwent near New Norfolk.
119404 Franklin Square, Hobart.
119405 The Shot Tower, Kingston Road.
119406 Russell Falls.
119407 Fern Tree Bower.
119408 Macquarie Street, Hobart.
119409 Hobart from the Harbour.
Date Published: The proofs were approved in London on April 4, 1907. Allowing two months for shipping to Hobart means they would have gone on sale around July 1907. The earliest postmark date I have seen is 14 November, 1907
Printing: The series was printed by C.G. Röder, Leipzig, Germany, by photolithography, using their Photo Baryt process. In contrast to earlier series, Röder printed everything on the front and the back of the cards. The back layout was provided in a handwritten letter to the printer. (See below).They were printed in sheets of 30; the printer cut up the sheets and packed the cards in packs of 50. There were 3000 of each card printed.
Number in Series: 30
Identification: The cards have "J. Walch & Sons, Wellington Bridge, Hobart.” on the back but no series identification. The printer’s numbers are in the range 119380 – 119409.
History of the Series
Walch’s London agent, Herbert Bishop, wrote to C.G. Röder on 5 February 1907 [1] inquiring about the best printing process to use for the next batch of cards. Röder used several processes, which varied mainly by the number of colours involved; the ones that have been mentioned in the correspondence I have seen are Photo Baryt, Auto Substitute, and Röder s Own.
Dear Sir,
We are sending you by Parcel Post 23 silver print photographs numbered 10 to 32 inclusive. Also 9 post cards you printed in August 1905.
Our Hobart House are undecided as to the process they will adopt this time.
They seem to take a fancy to the sample cards we sent them of yours – the “Photo Baryt” process.
Please send us your Scale of Charges for this process, also for your “Röder’s Own” and samples of each.
Perhaps you will be good enough to advise us as to the merits of your “Photo-Baryt” process against your Autochrome-Substitute as we think there may be a great difference in the number of colours used, and in the general result.
We take it that if we adopt the “Photo-Baryt” process that you will have to make all fresh blocks?
For the “Autochrome Substitute” process as before you will have the blocks and our original photos by you for the first nine (nos. 1 to 9).
We are not sure that the last 10 (nos. 23 to 32) are Reprints.
We send you ten postcards you printed in August 1905, and you will see whether they were produced from the very same negatives (Photos) or from other similar ones?
We will decide as to the process & printing on hearing from you.
We shall require 3,000 each of 32 cards.
Attached to that letter was a list dated the previous day:
The following will make one complete sheet of 32 post cards. The first nine will be reprints as invoiced by you 6th October 1906, with the exception of “Huon Bridge” & in place of this view we have ordered a reprint of “The Post Office”. We have omitted the “Tasmanian Tiger – Native”.
We are not sending you 9 photographs for these reprints. We believe you have the originals?
1. The Bend, Huon Road.
2. Brown’s River Road.
3. Port Arthur.
4. The Pavement Eagle Hawk Neck
5. Mountain Lake, Huon Road.
6. Round Tower, Port Arthur.
7. Hobart from Bellerive.
8. Government House, Hobart
9. The Post Office, Hobart
[Photos were sent for the following, as it says at the beginning of the letter]
10. Elizabeth Street, Hobart.
11. Sunrise near Hobart.
12. Sunset near Hobart.
13. The Derwent Lighthouse, Hobart.
14. The Water Works, Hobart.
15. The Water Works, Hobart.
16. Silver Falls, Hobart.
17. Government House, Hobart.
18. Forest Hut, Hobart.
19. New Norfolk.
20. New Norfolk Bridge.
21. Eagle Hawk Neck, Port Arthur.
22 Huon Bridge and Picnic Hotel.
The following 10 photographs we wish you to examine also we send you 10 coloured postcards you printed for us about 1st Sept. 1905. You will be able to judge whether these cards were produced from the same negatives & if they were these 10 will be charged as Reprints as will the first 9.
23. Cape Raoul.
24. Mount Wellington from Huon Road.
25. Rocking Stone, Mt. Wellington
26. River Derwent near New Norfolk.
27. Franklin Square, Hobart.
28. The Shot Tower, Kingston Road.
29. Russell Falls.
30. Fern Tree Bower.
31. Macquarie Street, Hobart.
32. Hobart from the Harbour.
The views to cover the whole of the cards. The lettering on the post cards (on the views) to be in white as the Port Arthur Post Card enclosed herewith. The address side as this:-
We will require the cards cut up and banded in fifties of the same card. But please note we require 50 sheets printed on a good paper for us to mount as pictures.
Owing to the serious delay in the execution of our last order you must be good enough to give us delivery of these by a fixed date.
Notes on colouring of post cards
10. Elizabeth St Hobart The two buildings on left are cement. “The Post Office” is seen in the distance.
13. Derwent Lighthouse The only water is on left hand corner. The Rock is of light brown sandstone. The house is stone colour. The square tower is all white and no dark top.
17. Government House The building is of light brown freestone as before.
18. Forest Hut The roof is of rough brown bark. The ferns are same colour as on previous cards.
20. New Norfolk Bridge The top of this is white. The piles are a rough timber.
22. Huon bridge This is a timber bridge the top being painted white.
Bishop received a reply from Röder, and wrote again on 26 February 1907:
Dear Sir,
We thank you for your letter of 18th inst. And as we are most anxious to have the best possible results from our original photographs we have decided to adopt your “Photo-Baryt” style, as you tell us more colours are used & greater care taken to produce first-class printing.
The instructions we sent you on 4th inst. stand good.
As regards printing the titles on the views on the bottom in white, as the Port Arthur Post Card we sent you, there will be no difficulty we hope. The address side of the Post Cards, we should prefer in Chocolate ink.
Regarding the 50 sheets we wanted on paper we note you cannot supply on account of the danger in register – so please supply 50 sheets uncut on the ordinary cardboard.
Please examine the six “Sunset” photographs numbered 11. 12. 33. 34. 35. 36.and see if you can make good pictures of these, because if you cannot we would leave them out. We want 36 cards printed and we are aware that there are only 30 cards on a sheet in your “Photo-Baryt” style. If you are not sure of good result from the 6 sunset photos we would get 6 other photos from Hobart to take their place.
As regards delivery we are glad to learn that you will be able to give us delivery in six weeks. We shall be pleased if we can get delivery in two months as we are so anxious for you to give us the very best colour printing you can.
We note for this process for a whole sheet of 30 cards & 3000 of each you charge 21/- per 1000 & very little reduction for reprints namely 19/6 per 1000.
We want 3,000 each of 36 different post cards.
Please return us our original photographs very carefully packed in one parcel by parcel post to prevent damage.
The last page of this letter (not transcribed in full here) listed more sunset cards, numbers 33 to 36, which with the two already requested ( numbers 11 & 12) make the six referred to above:
33. Sunset on the Derwent (a)
34. Sunset on the Derwent (b)
35. Sunset on the Derwent (c)
36. Sunset on the Derwent (d)
In the first letter above they requested a series of 32 cards, on the understanding that 32 would make a full sheet. But they decided on the Photo-Baryt style which has only 30 to a full sheet, so the two original sunset/sunrise cards, numbers 11 and 12, were omitted. They then sent four more sunset cards, numbers 33-36, which were eventually printed later and the six became the Series 120,000.
On April 4, 1907, the proofs had been received and Bishop wrote to Röder again:
We have received the 30 original photos of Tasmanian views and the 6 original photos of sunsets and your proofs.
The sunset cards we like very well but they have a lot of purple colouring in them. You will know if you can improve them in any way. The 30 view cards do well on the whole but we think you will be able to give better results with some of them if you will kindly go through them carefully.
The white lettering please be careful with.
Fern Tree Bower does not seem green enough
Water Works: Forest not well defined
Mt Wellington: Sky & mountains not well defined – too much like marble
Bend Huon Rd: Ferns too light a green
Government House: The house and sky too near in colour don’t you think
New Norfolk: The mountains not well defined
We return the proofs.
I have no information about when the cards were shipped, or when they went on sale in Hobart.
References
[1] Archives Office of Tasmania NS2870/1/14 Copies of invoices and orders to suppliers in England [& Germany] 1907 pp. 444-456,