Raphael Tuck was born in East Prussia in 1821 and arrived in England with his wife and seven children in 1865. He opened a furniture and picture framing shop in 1886, but the picture side began to expand in 1870 when three of his sons joined the business which developed into importing and publishing.
There first Christmas Cards were published in 1871.
|
Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd. were recognised as leaders in the field of quality publishing, with their fine range of embossed scraps, greeting cards, calendars and books. In 1881 Adolph Tuck succeeded his father Raphael as managing director of the company. The firms lead in fine art publishing was duly rewarded in 1893 with the Royal Warrant by Appointment to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, a distinction they continued to win until Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne.
|
|
Adolph was one of the chief campaigners for the full size postcard 5.5 x 3.5 inches, the Post Office specified that cards should be no larger than 4.5 x 3.5 inches. Tuck produced the first larger view cards in November 1899 when the Post Office relented and allowed full size cards to be posted in Great Britain, and with the newly erected Raphael House, Moorfields, London and premises in New York and Paris, Tuck were in a strong position to exploit this new market.
The final change to the postcard happened in the first half of 1902 when the address and message were allowed to be printed on the back of the card (split back) leaving the maximum area for artist drawn and photographic view pictures to appear on the front.
In 1904 Raphael Tuck had 15,000 postcard designs in print, Henry Wimbush is credited with supplying 815 original water colours which were published as Tuck cards.
On 29th December 1940 in one of the worst air raids of the war, Raphael House was destroyed, and all the records of its postcards, together with many originals, were lost for ever.
Fortunately those postcards in their millions had been distributed throughout the world and has enabled collectors everywhere to enjoy that rich heritage.
|