British Museum (Natural History): Publications Section: Director's Office: Postcards...

This series contains the postcards and greetings cards that have been published by the Museum and were sold through the bookstall and via the Museum's agents, Quaritch and Dulau. They were introduced, with the approval of the Treasury, as a result of their successful introduction at the British Museum. DF 509/1-177 contain the pre-war cards that were published in sets and sold in a printed envelope with an explanatory leaflet. Cards were published in eight series: A - views; B - mammals; C - birds; D - minerals; E - insects; F - plants; G - fossils; and H - historical. Each set and each card was given an alphanumeric reference. The collection of pre-war cards is complete.

Redevelopment of the bookstall in 1966 prompted the Director, T C Morrison-Scott, to propose an entirely new range of coloured postcards. Many of these were issued in sets, but only the cards were given reference numbers. The collection of post-war cards (DF 509/178-255) is incomplete.

Series held at The Natural History Museum are catalogued more fully in its online catalogue (reference DF PUB/509). Online descriptions of some individual records can also be viewed on Discovery, see DF 509.

Art originals for many of the pre-war cards are held in the Archives and in the departmental libraries. Postcards published in booklet-form are held in the General Library.

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