Antique & Vintage Postcards

Edwardian Perth comes alive in this richly hand-coloured view down the High Street — a tram glides along its rails while horse-drawn carts negotiate the cobbles, pedestrians in Edwardian dress cluster under shopfronts hung with canvas awnings, and a church spire pierces the hazy distance beyond the canyon of sandstone commercial buildings. The detail image reveals figures pausing at a corner shopfront, the street-level lettering just legible through the halftone screen. Published by Chas. L. Reis & Co. of Glasgow, this card uses the pre-divided-back format (communication space restricted to the left half, address right) mandated by British postal regulations before January 1902 — making this an "undivided back" transitional card, almost certainly printed c. 1902–1904. Perth's electric tramway on the High Street opened in 1905, so the presence of a tram pushes the depicted scene to the very early tram era or may reflect slight artistic licence in the colourisation. A hand-annotated dealer note on the reverse reads "E10 Perth, Scotland."