North Africa: Junto Al Mar Lehnert & Landrock R.E.C.P. Exchange Club To Miguel Vila Mallorca (Vintage PC 1915)

original vintage colour postcard "522 - junto al mar" (by the sea), showing a coastal path lined with cacti and agaves, two figures in traditional white north african dress, a domed white building and sea view in the background. photograph by lehnert & landrock, the well known orientalist photography studio active in tunisia and egypt. printed on a spanish "union postal universal - marruecos" postcard form, franked with a spanish 10 centimos stamp, postmarked palma de mallorca 12 february 1915.

sender's cachet reads "r.e.c.p. 603". r.e.c.p. stands for "registre d'échangistes de cartes postales" (sometimes "...et de timbres-poste"), a french-founded international club and registry active from the early 1900s through the 1910s-1930s, connecting thousands of postcard and stamp collectors across europe, the french colonies and beyond. members identified themselves with personalised rubber stamps or printed vignette labels bearing their individual membership number, applied to the cards and correspondence they exchanged.

sent to sr. d. miguel vila, calle de fiol nº 9, palma de mallorca (islas baleares) - a postcard collector who exchanged cards with correspondents across europe and north africa in the early 20th century, several via this same r.e.c.p. network. an attractive orientalist view combined with a rare, tangible piece of early deltiology and philatelic exchange history.

size: ~ 9 x 14 cm (1 cm ~ 0.39 inch)

postally used in 1915

condition: very good....please also refer to scans which show complete front and back of postcard

ansichstkarte, ak, postkarte, postcard, carte postale, tarjeta postale, 葉書, berber, maghreb, morocco, tunisia