The Paper Lion Meets Raphael Tuck

One of Paper Lion's favorite manufacturers of paper treasures is Raphael Tuck & Sons. In 1821, founder Raphael Tuck was born in Koschmin, in East Prussia. He moved to England in 1865 and by 1866 had opened a small shop selling furniture and chromolithographs printed in Germany, and offering picture-framing services. In 1870, three of his sons joined him in the family business, and they began to publish paper items such as fine art prints, chromolithographs postcards, books, calendars, puzzles, and paper dolls. They were printed in Germany but the subject matter - animals, soldiers, children, flowers, & country scenes - was chosen to please a British audience.
In 1881, Adolph Tuck succeeded his father as managing director of the company and they registered the familiar trademark of an artist's easel, palette and brushes with the initials R.T.& S. In 1893 they began to carry the
Royal Warrant of Appointment granted by Queen Victoria. Adolph Tuck produced their first picture postcard in 1894 of Mt. Snowden in Wales, which was sold to tourists visiting the site, and the first series of numbered postcards was printed in 1898, which was a set of 12 lithographed vignette views of London, numbered 1 to 12 with the "Tower of London" being postcard #1. The company introduced the oilette series of postcards, usually based on specially commissioned paintings, in the early 1900s. The oilette postcards were organized in sets, all cards in the same set having the same number.
Raphael Tuck & Sons established an office in New York and hired American artists to design images for the American market. The postcards were printed in Germany or England and then returned to the United States. By 1904, the company had 15,000 postcard designs in print.
Most records of the Raphael Tuck & Sons company history, as well as many of the original postcard paintings were destroyed in 1940 when the London head-offices were hit in an air raid.
Raphael Tuck & Sons dominated the die-cut market in Britain during the 1880's decade. Germany and Britain developed a method where their images could be cut into shapes during the printing process by a type of punch-out tool called a die. By 1880 the die-cut chromolithograph reached its pinnacle with the most colourful and complex imagery standing out in direct relief. Original die-cut chromolithographs have today become very scarce. Most have suffered from chipping and breakage, and very few remain in fine condition.
Several fine examples of Raphael Tuck & Sons work can be found at Paper Lion. Check it out. As Paper Lion always tells me, Tuck is grrrrreat!!
October 10 addenda: Since putting up this blog nearly all of my Raphael Tuck stock has been sold, but Paper Lion still has lots of other wonderful Victorian paper treasures.