Georges’ album

Georges is a soldier; he goes to Indochina, to Tonkin in Viétri. He writes to his sister Alice, his brothers Louis and Gaston, as well as to his parents.

Georges’ friends, who are also soldiers, write to Alice and Georges. Georges asks his friends to send him postcards. It is 1908, and the pastime is collecting cards. Georges’ friends play along and send him postcards from their places of residence.

And so here is a collection of postcards that traces the journey of these French soldiers in our colonies and territories from 1906 to 1909.

The seller of these cards did not want to destroy this album and sell the cards separately. He sold me the album as the family had created it. Thus, there are duplicate cards (same view, same publisher) but for two different recipients.

Thanks to digital technology, I can recreate this album and highlight the cards that composed it.

With this collection, I will share with you the cards from the publishers Passignat and Union commerciale indochinoise. These cards are authentic; they were purchased locally from a corner vendor. There aren’t many choices, but they are beautiful and represent local life well.