All The Small Things...

A sale that I attended recently had been a little lacklustre on the vintage front for most of the morning, until I noticed a cardboard box under one of the stalls. It appeared to be full of old postcards, mostly views around Britain during the 1970's, but on delving a little deeper, I came across this little treasure.

It is a small pocket-sized diary from 1877.

Inside the front cover are useful snippets of information, such as how much you should expect to pay for a journey in a London cab, as well as a table of high water times at London Bridge!

OK, all useful stuff in its day, I'm sure, but the rest of the diary had been somewhat defaced...

It had been used to create a mini album for pretty little greetings cards of the time. Its a shame the old diary had been defaced, but it did mean that the cards stored inside had been pressed and kept so well, that they looked as fresh as the day that they had been printed...

And there were lots of them!

I love these Easter cards - The one on the right being my favourite...

Just look at those lovely snowdrops and forget-me-not flowers.

More Easter greetings - these ones printed with white lilies on a rich gold background.

And then there were these tiny cutout Christmas cards...

with a simple greeting on their reverse.

More shaped cards, pristine and unused.

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Beautiful sentimental keepsakes from a romantic era.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I also found this tiny embossed card needle case at the bottom of the box of postcards. Its embroidered front and back in silk threads

and fastens with the red ribbon.

This larger card opens up to reveal the fresh springtime posy inside.

And finally I also found these unused baptism and marriage certificates, probably from the early 1900's.

Just scraps of paper really, some might say, but they make me happy and are a joy to look at.

I am left wondering why the little cards were never sent, though, and kept so carefully in the one shilling diary.

Hope you enjoyed seeing them,

Niki x