ZUID-AFRIKAANSCHE REPUBLIEK, (TRANSVAAL) PICTURE POSTCARDS

A similar picture postcard (13.2a) is illustrated by Bram Leeflang in his 2018 book: Pioneer Postcards of South Africa 1896–1900, Stationery and non-stationery picture postcards of the Boer Republics, Cape of Good Hope and Natal. - see below for details.

The Postcard
Posted to Germany, at the two and a half pence rate, the picture postcard entered the post in Johannesburg on the 12^th April 1899 and has an arrival datestamp for the 8^th May.

The picture side of the picture postcard, is captioned in English, ‘GREETINGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA’, and from left to right, there are captions to the pictures. ‘HIS HONOR, PRESIDENT KRUGER’, ‘GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, PRETORIA.’ and ‘The Telephone Tower, Johannesburg.’.

The set of six different printings sometimes have different imprints with some not showing that they were published by Sallo Epstein. While, some have both the names of Sallo Epstein and Martin Rewald. These cards are very thick, as the printed picture has been adhered to the board. The picture was probably printed in Germany on paper and the board printed in the South African Republic. The former being pasted on to the board in the Republic. They do not always make a perfect fit.

Sallo Epstein
Sallo Epstein is remembered today, as a publisher of illustrated postal stationery cards and picture postcards, although he was often listed in contemporary philatelic directories, as either a stamp collector or stamp dealer. He had clients around the world, including French Indo-China - see Woolgar, J., and Matthews, J., (2013).

He had emigrated to southern African, and his early years are very much bound up with another stamp dealer, that of Mozes Zadok Booleman. (M.Z. Booleman is generally credited as being Johannesburg’s first stamp dealer.) They published the first set of illustrated Postal Stationery Cards in Africa in 1896, of which the picture side was printed locally - see Woolgar (2009). In Johannesburg he was Secretary of the Johannesburg Philatelic Society and Booleman was the superintendent of stamp exchange.

During the South African War, he moved to Natal. Here in Durban he carried on his business, often dealing with the military as they passed through the port. While his picture postcards were published in Johannesburg, it was probably from this time that many were published in Durban. It is therefore possible to find cards published in both cities over the years. In 1902 he was back in Johannesburg – Philately House, Rissik Street, Post Office Box 520, Johannesburg. This address had been previously been used by Booleman.

Sallo Epstein gave up his business in Johannesburg during 1922 and returned to Vienna, where he carried on dealing in stamps by correspondence. He died during July 1926.

According to Criddle, writing in the August 1978 edition of The Transvaal Philatelist, Sallo Epstein, '... not only dealt in stamps but published million[s] of postcards and took many thousand of photographs for Underwoods of "Stereoscope" fame.'

Notes and References
Getting the Booleman facts together, S[outh] A[frican] Philatelist, Vol.61 No.1 January 1985, p.20.
[Criddle, H.M.,] (1978), Sallo Epstein and M.Z. Booleman, The Transvaal Philatelist, Vol.13, No.3 (51), p.55.
Harley, A., (2005), Sallo Epstein in Durban The Transvaal Philatelist, Vol.40, No.3 (155), pp.75-76.
Woolgar, J., (2009), Illustrated Postal Stationery Cards - 'THE LATE CRISIS IN JOHANNESBURG', The Transvaal Philatelist, Vol.44, No.3 (171), pp.52-56.
Woolgar, J., and Matthews, J., (2013), Stamp Dealers (5) - Sallo Epstein and French Indo-China, The Transvaal Philatelist (186), pp.60-61.

Leeflang, B., (2019) Pioneer Postcards of South Africa 1896-1900 Stationery and non-stationery picture postcards

of the Boer Republics, Cape of Good Hope and Natal, Haarlem, pp.97-118.

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Bram Leeflang,

Pioneer Postcards of South Africa 1896-1900 Stationery and non-stationery
picture postcards of the Boer Republics, Cape of Good Hope and Natal

An Appraisal
Published by the author 1^st July 2019, A4 (297x210mm.) format and sectioned/perfect bound, 151 pages printed in full colour on a 130gsm silk machine coated paper with illustrated cover. In December 2001 the author published ‘Viewcards of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek’ as a supplement to The South African Postcard Research Group News Letter; listing the known South African Republic illustrated postal stationery cards. Later in 2002, this was updated in an article published in The Transvaal Philatelist, ‘View cards of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek’. Since then the author has been networking with other likeminded collectors and collating data, not only on the illustrated postal stationery cards, but on the picture postcards of South Africa published between 1896 and 1900.

The result is a meticulously researched and organised listing of both picture postcards and illustrated postal stationery cards, which are generally listed under the publisher’s name. Many of these publishers will not be familiar to postcard collectors. Where the publisher or printer is unknown, the author creates descriptive names, such as, ‘Vertical Cape post cards’, which will now surely be the standard names given in future publications.

Following a short introduction for each publisher there is a description of each card, giving the title, earliest postal date, type of address side and a rarity code. Bram notes in the primary pages that the rarity does not reflect the value as some cards are more popular than others.

Auctioneers are now quoting Bram Leeflang’s reference numbers from this publication. Therefore, for those interested in the early illustrated stationery cards and non-stationery picture postcards of the Boer Republics, Cape of Good Hope and Natal, this beautifully illustrated book will prove to be an essential addition to their bookshelves.

J.W.