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SETS, SERIES AND "OTHER"
MISC INFORMATION & MYSTERIES
Some of the types to be listed here were obviously made in sets for special sale and not numbered. Since they are not numbered, the number of cards in a set are unknown except in the case of calendars which must have 12 to the set. Also listed will be special numbered series and topics in the regular numbered series that seem to have been published as sets of groups, but in a very loose sense.
Credit for this information must be given to: Bernard B. Lackey in his Handbook on E. H. Mitchell published in 1975. One will find more information, has since been found and can be found in the various listings.
1. CALENDARS This idea was for advertising and consisted of a card designed including calendar for each month and depicting the person or idea the month was named for. They also had the advertisement of the firm distributing them. At least two years (1911 & 1912) have been found and 2 school ads were noted. These card were copyrighted in 1910 by Johnston-Dienstag-Ayres of San Francisco. The DH4a Backs state they were lithographed by Mitchell for Johnston-Ayres Co. The DH4 backs were used for other publishers for the Calendar cards, by Mitchell
2. COMICS Throughout the regular numbered series, there is a very small scattering of comics. Some depict girls and mules, children and mules, bathing scenes, auto comics, etc., However, Edward H. Mitchell also published a set of cards called "Swas-Ticklers" that are jokes or sayings printed in red, white & black similar to Sheehan's Mottoes or "Hot Shot" cards. These are extremely rare and the extent of the set is unknown. SEE listing for what is currently known. Also issued by Mitchell were cards depicting army life, in sepia. These were probably issued late in 1915 and the artwork resembles "Private Berger" types. See above listing for what is know at this time.
3. GREETINGS This is a very attractive set of cards. On each card is a vignette of some scene (the same as on the regular issued) and this is surrounded by various combinations of poppies, poinsettias and holly. Backs are very fancy green printing of holly, but some of thus set were printed on DH3 backs. Most of the vignettes are titled, but some are not. SEE SAMPLE -- SEE Listing
4. MT. LOWE This set depicts scenes of Mt. Lowe and "ML" backs. There are also several scenes of Mt. Lowe in the numbered series with and without MTL backs. Some are numbered/unnumbered and can be found in the colored "DH1" and other listings. SEEDivided backs SEEUnnumbered ML
5. EXPOSITIONS AND FESTIVALS
Edward H. Mitchell printed and published many cards for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) both under his own name and for some other publishers. He also published under his own name for the Lewis & Clark Exposition, the Alaska Yukon and the Panama-California Expositions. Most can be found in the divided back color listings. SEE EXPOSITIONS listing A. GOLDEN POTLATCH, July 17-22, 1911. There are at least two types of this issue. SEE
Front Logo
SEE Back
One is an official card published for Hopf Bros. in sepia tone with official seal on front, copyrighted 1911. SEE Golden Potlatch listing. The others are Seattle, Washington scenes on sepia DH3 cards. The explanation of POTLATCH is printed on the back of the first type. B. PORTOLA FESTIVAL Oct 19-23, 1909. Issued for the Festival in color on DV1 cards, copyrighted 1909. Extent of series is unknown. They are multiview and decorated with people, garlands, bears, etc.. C. ADMISSION DAY 1910 FESTIVAL SEPT 8-10. Issued on DV2 cards, in color, no copyright data. Unknown number published. Decorative cards showing people, flags, bears, etc.. D. PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION 1915. A Set of four cards numbered 1915-A, B, C, & D. Copyrighted 1911 by Edw. H Mitchell. Sepia cards, divided back with "published by Exposition Pub. Co." and Expo. seal. (Not a typical Mitchell back) Decorative cards with vignettes, people, bears, flags, garland, etc.. 1915-A has almost identical front as Admission day card of 1910. E. ZODIAC Cards. (Astrology group) unnumbered DH backs. SEEListing for number known to be published
The Following are sets, but with a special numbering system.
6. HAWAII A set of Hawaiian scene were printed under numbers H-1 through H-?. H-28 is highest number noted. Note: A 29M has been seen! These cards are the same in appearance as the regular Mitchell DH2 issues in color, only the numbering system and the scenes differ.
7. PHILLIPINES-Manila This set is similar to the Hawaiian set, but is numbered M-1 through M-?. (M-32 is the highest number known to date.) Depicts Manila and the Philippines scenes in color. DH2 backs.
8. MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA This set of 32(?) cards was published in sepia and numbered Z-1 to Z-32. They were sold either singly or in a booklet of detachable cards, R&D backs. and S1C to S5B backs. These same cards were also issued under the Souvenir Publishing Co. by-line.
9. "B" Series These cards are scenes of the University of California at Berkeley, and are in color on S1B in sepia or S1C in black. Lowest number seen is B72 and highest is B206. (one card seen with no number.) Some of these cards were issued under the Souvenir Publishing Co & Pacific Novelty Co.
10. "C" Series (Mostly C 1060's) The reason for this series is unknown unless "C" stands for California. They are rather poorly printed on S1C backs and not nearly up to Mitchell's Standards. One interesting card in the series is C1161 which is copyrighted by Edw. H. Mitchell in 1907 on the front, but is printed on a Pacific Novelty Co. Back. It is known that these two companies were allied, but this is the only card seen with both names.
11. "D" Series This Series seems to be of missions and parks. This must have been a good selling series as they are found on many different backs. DH1, DH3, S2B, S3B, and ROD have been seen and logged in the check list. Lowest number found is D-132 and highest number found is D517.
12. "O" Series There are two types in the "O" numbers. The first type is printed in sepia on R&D backs and depicts scenes of Oregon. The second is printed in color, S1C backs and show scenes of Oakland, Calif.. These are poorly printed as were the "B" numbers. Lowest number found is O-26, highest is O-228.
13. "S" Series There seems to be at least two sets in the "S" series. One running from S80 to perhaps S110 which are sepia of black & white views of the Santa Cruz, Calif. area. (S1C, S3B or S5A backs.) The other set (if it really is a set, since only two have been seen) runs in the S600 to S700 numbers and perhaps may be anything. The two see, Padre Junipero Serra (S615) is sepia S3B back, and The Jane K. Sather (S736) sepia, also S3B back. Note: It has now been found that there are "S" Series beginning with S15 to S853.
14. "SC" Series This Series depicts scene of the ocean at Santa Cruz, Calif. in color, S1C backs. Lowest number seen, SC102, highest, SC199. Rather poor prints like the "B" and the "O" series.
15. "SF" Series This series seems to start at SF23, "Greetings from San Francisco" a multiview card in color and runs to at least SF612. All of the cards are in color and depict scenes of California. All are on S1C backs in black and a few have descriptions printed in upper left corner.
16. "Y" Series This series depicts Yosemite valley, Calif. in color and is the only set of Mitchells with a white border except UN1 types. This series is on S1B backs or S1C backs in brown or black and those seen from Y130 to Y144.
17. There is another set that should be mentioned here. although published by Souvenir Publishing Co. They are titled "Tournament of Roses, New Years Day, Pasadena, California" and the type of float. Which year this was cannot be determined by the cards and the number of cards in the set are unknown. Note: Color of cards is unknown, and it is possible they were not Mitchell cards.
18. ALBUMS Edward H. Mitchell also took regular series cards of various locations and made them up into albums of 20 cards or more. Most of these were in sepia and most of these in complete albums are long gone and rare. Cards serrated on the left edge are from albums and in many cases are the only clue left as to the content of the album. Cards in albums are seldom numbered consecutively.
The Below will indicate some that do not fit into Mitchell's normal production of Postcards. Most are undoubtedly produced by Mitchell, but are either plain unnumbered views, advertisements for various Hotels, Restaurants and others. Why they were left unnumbered will remain one of the minor mysteries. Some have been seen by Sam Stark, Walter Kransky and other collectors. They have all been added to the various unnumbered checklists. 1. HOTELS Hotel Del Monte, Del Monte, California. Colored-DH3. Hotel Turpin 17 Powell Street at Market, San Francisco, Cal. Colored-DH3. (interior) Same title as above, Colored-S3A. (exterior) Hotel Jefferson. Turk and Gough Streets San Francisco N. W. Gray - C. E. Luizee. Colored-DV1 Office and Lobby, Hotel Steward Geary near Powell Street. San Francisco California. Colored-DV2 Louis XVI Reception Room, Hotel Stewart, Geary near Powell Street, San Francisco, California. Colored-DV2 Hotel Stewart from Union Square, San Francisco, California. Colored-DV2 Lobby, Mt. Washington Hotel Los Angeles California. Colored-HMW Hotel Arlington Seattle, Wash. W. G. Potts Proprietor. Sepia-DH2 Hotel Victoria Cor. Bush and Stockton Sts., San Francisco, California. Sepia-DH2 Hotel Land, Sacramento, Cal. Sepia-S3B (slightly altered) (Hotel Seattle) Pioneer Square, Seattle. Sepia-DH3 The Arlington Santa Barbara, California. Sepia-DH2 The same title and view, but with ad on back and different title format. Sepia-DH2 Arlington Hotel, Santa Barbara, Cal. Colored-S4B (same as sepia view) Arlington Hotel, (entrance) Santa Barbara, Cal. Colored-S4B The Washington, Seattle Washington. Colored-UN1 Highland Springs Hotel Lake Co. Cal. Craig & Kerr Managers. Colored-UN1 Court, Huntington Hotel, Pasadena, Cal. Colored-T1 (original title and number, overprinted with gold stripe) Potter Hotel, Santa Barbara, Cal. Colored-S4B City of Paris Dry Good Company Royal Insurance Building, San Francisco, California. Colored-2030 2. RESTAURANTS, ETC. Dining-Room of Blue Lakes Hotel, Midlake P. O. Lake Co. California. Colored-UN1 Dining Room st. George Hotel Santa Cruz, Cal. Sepia-DH3 Miramar cafe, Sausalito, Marino Co. Cal. Sepia-DH2 The Original Swains Bakery and Restaurant 140 O'farrell Street San Francisco California opposite Orpheum. Sepia-DH2 Davenports, Spokane Wash. Main Entrance. Colored-UN1 Davenports, Spokane, Wash. Spokane's Great Restaurant established 1889. Colored-UN1 (main aisle, east room) 3. SANITARIUMS, HOSPITALS St. Helena Sanitarium, Sanitarium California. Colored-multiview-SAN A Viewpoint from Loma Linda Sanitarium Loma Linda California. Colored-view with inset-SAN Glendale Sanitarium Glendale, Cal. A Southern California Health Resort. Colored-SAN Paradise Valley Sanitarium, National City, California. Sepia-DH2 St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, Ore. Sepia-R&D Soldiers Home, Sawtelle, Cal. Colored-S4A 4. NEW ORLEANS View in City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Haunted House and Looking up Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. Vieux Carre, New Orleans, Louisiana. MME. John's Legacy, New Orleans, Louisiana. 5. YOSEMITE VALLEY This set of cards are similar to the "Y" series, but are unnumbered. They are color scenes-S1C with backs in black. The ones that have been seen are listed below: Three Brothers Vernal Falls (350 feet) Half Dome Cathedral Spires Upper Yosemite Falls Overhanging Rock Yosemite Falls Bridal Veil Falls The Fissures 6. ADVERTISEMENT These cards were probably intended for distribution by the place or institution depicted and carry an advertising message. They are listed follows: Sun Cured Raisins, stacked, Fresno County, California. Picture of Raisins in color-DH2. "Prize Raisin Bread Recipe" on back. Absorbing Calif. Sunshine. Fresno County Raisins, Stored California Sunshine, Fresno, California. First National Bank, Berkeley California. Colored-DH3 Peoples Savings Bank, 8th and "J" Sts., San Francisco California. Colored-DH2 Same as above with advertisement on back. In the left Foreground is Flood Building, the ground floor of which is known as Railroad Row. The Offices of all the Principal Railroads being located there. Colored-DV2 Cawston's Ostrich Farm, South Pasadena, California. Old address overprinted front and back and the legend "Our New City Store, 313 Broadway, Los Angeles" Printed in black. Colored-DV1 Same, but ad for "Tilton's Trolley Trip 100 Miles for 100 cents" has been added on the back. Old Baldy Mt. and Birdseye view of Pomona, Cal. Sepia DH3 For Illustrated booklet and other information. address the board of trade, Pomona, California. Printed in dark sepia on front of card. "Old Mission, San Diego, California Founded 1769" printed in 1/4 inch red letters on picture of Missions. Colored-DH2 Additional information about olives and "Old Mission" Olive oil, in red on face of card. Calvary Presbyterian Church, Long Beach, Cal. Colored-S4A Further information about building in red on front of card. Knights of Columbus Recreation Building, Naval Station, Bremerton, Wash. Three scenes in black-S1C. Interior (probably a dance) with sailors and girls, exterior scene and interior lounge of library with sailors. Pacific Mail Steamship Company's Steamer "Persia" 9000 Tons and additional information in black on face of card. Card depicts steamer in color-S3B "Greater San Francisco" in 1/2 inch white letters on birdseye view of Bay Area in color-T1 Big Tree Club House, Big Tree Grove near Santa Cruz, Cal. #2259. This card is really not a post card, but only had advertising on the back, but had to be listed somewhere. in black and white, no Mitchell name anywhere. Same as Above, but in Sepia and Edw. E Mitchell by line. 7. There is also a set of cards that do not look too much like Mitchells, but more like the type later published by Paul Newman of Los Angeles, but Mitchells they are. All in color-S4A or S4B backs. Titles follow: Eight & Broadway, L. A. Eagle Rock, L. A. Busch Gardens, Pasadena Point Fermin L. A. Colorado St. Bridge, Pasadena Date Palms Flowers Storm on the Pacific Cable Car on Mt. Lowe 8. The below set of cards are all of the UN1 type in color except the last four which are UN2 types. Titles follow: "Little Eda" Seventeen Mile Drive Chinese Fishing Village, Monterey High School, Stockton Bathing Beach, Seattle Suey Creek, Santa Maria Hotel Lorenz, Redding Waterfront, Seattle Pioneer Square, Seattle Klamath Springs, Beswick Minnewawa Home, Fresno Market Street, Redding Pavilion Leschi Park, Seattle Kinnear Park, Seattle High School, Redding Court House, Redding Marshall Monument, Colma UN2 Napa Soda Springs, UN2 Upper Falls, Spokane UN2 Log Cabin, Eldorado Co. UN2 9. Four other cards seen that are unnumbered and untitled Front and Back. All in color. (sailboat in moonlight) DV2 (crevasse in Alaska) T4 (harbour showing sailboats, one named Fourth of July) DV2 (gates to park) DV2 10. Unnumbered and untitled on front, by 68-San Gabriel Mission, Cal. on back. In color-S1B 11. Was Titled (and numbered) but obliterated with green stripe. Shows horse and buggy and dog on dirt road in forest. In Color T3 12. Other Miscellaneous that must be listed somewhere. a. Babies. Not counted, but must be over a hundred babies in color on DV2 card. (Note: Burt Reynolds in his famous pose as child near bottom of card) b. This card is very strange. Denny Blaine Park, Seattle, but overprinted (in error) with some unidentified mission. It was mailed from California to Massachusetts in 1910, but why anyone would buy and send this card is among the great Mitchell Mysteries. 13. The Following three cards will be described in their entirety as they are Mitchell Sample cards and as such give a good clue as to number of cards in set, date of issue and cost. These are relatively rare cards. a. 1442 - Bridal veil falls, Yosemite Valley, California, in color-T3. Postmarked San Francisco, Cal. Aug 13, 7-pm, 1908 and hand addressed to Messrs. Smith Bros. 462-13th St. Oakland, Cal. The ad was hand stamped in purple in the correspondence section and states: THIS SAMPLE POST CARD IS ONE OF 32 JUST PRINTED AND READY FOR IMMEDIATE SHIPMENT. OR LINE OF 1500 SUBJECTS, MAINLY PACIFIC COAST VIEWS, CONTAINS MANY SALABLE IN YOUR LOCALITY. TRADE PRICES: 75 cents per 100 postage 7 cents, $7.00 per 100 express 70 cents. Edward H. Mitchell Publisher of Colored Post cards, 3363 Army St. San Francisco. The number was inked in by hand. b. 1353 - Grotto Geyser, Yellowstone National park, (copyright 190 ? G. B. Joslen) in color T3 (copyright date obscured by tip of tree.) Postmarked San Francisco, Cal. August 12, 8:30 pm, 1908 and hand addressed to Mr. A. T. Nelson Box 906, Boise. Idaho. The ad, hand stamped in purple, is the same as the previous example with the handwritten amount of 32 inserted. Note: Both of these sets were later printed on type DV1 cards. It is interesting that #1364 and #1365 were inter-changed in the two sets. There were other minor changes in the two sets as example the copyright information was removed from the title and inked in elsewhere on the card. c. 1118 - Snohomish County Court House Everett, Washington. in sepia-DH2. This card is unused. The ad is printed in red on the back left side. This explains at least two things. (1) Why some Sepias had a border, (ordered that way ?) and (2) the name "Souvenir Post card Co.?" An additional type of sample card used by Edw. H. Mitchell was simply the card published, with hand stamped notation in purple on the back: "SAMPLE PLEASE PASTE THIS IN YOUR SAMPLE BOOK." The Second category contains some really interesting puzzles and consist of three types. 1. Sing Fats These cards have the R&Q back, but printed in orange and rather poorly printed. The front of the cards depict various oriental people and scenes. Printed in black at the bottom of the card: Published by Sing Fat & Co. These cards are hand colored. Did the Sing Fat Co. copy Mitchell's back and print their own cards, or is this another Mitchell first" How many there are is unknown, but the following few have been seen. Japanese girl (waist up) Japanese girl (full view) and tiger lily inset. Chinese musician. The only titled card seen: THE GRANDEST CHINESE STORE IN AMERICA. 2. Cut and retitled Mitchells. This group of cards are undoubtedly of Mitchell origin, but someone, somewhere, sometime, cut off the Edw. H. Mitchell by-line and/or title and retitled the cards. Some of the retitling, was printed on the cards, some hand stamped and some typewriter. In the retitling, as original lake in California becomes a lake in Washington, a cliff at Yellowstone becomes a cliff in Oregon. All these cards are of course considerably smaller than original, about the size of a PMC. Who did the cutting? Probably not Mitchell as he could easily change the titles. But perhaps there were remainders that weren't selling and in fact he did do the trimming. If not Mitchell, and whoever did it, was he authorized by Mitchell or was this a Watergate job? These cards are not plentiful and some that have been seen are listed below: 7061 A Placid River Scene, California. Title printed in black block letters, Color R&D back 29 Peculiar Rock Formation in the Northwest. Title printed in black block letters. Color DV1 back. Originally, 1344 Sheep eater Cliff, Yellowstone National Park. No# Winter Scene near Spokane, Wash. Titled in red. Color DV1. Originally, 1444 Floor of Yosemite Valley, California in Winter. No# Bitter Root Valley Trees in Bloom. Titled typed in black color DH1 back. Originally, 2786 Apple trees in blossom. No# Road from Calistoga to Petrified Forest. Title printed in black italics, color DV1 back. Originally, 118 Mt. Tamalpais, California, from the divide. 2827 Scene in Yakima Valley, Wash. Titled printed in black block letter. Color DH1 back, Original title unknown. 671 A Washington Lake Scene. Title printed in black letters. Color DH1 back. Originally, 1115 Hayden Lake, near Spokane, Washington. 1131 A Washington River Scene. Title printed in black italics. Color DV2 back. Originally 1121 Post Falls, Idaho. One card not cut, but old title covered by a piece of sky from another card and new title printed in red. 2552 Foothills, Los Gatos. A Possible clue for more confusion to the above situation is furnished by #1208 (T1). This card is titled in typical Mitchell fashion (red block letters) SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD CO'S HOSPITAL, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA. This also was found with a not typical title in black A CALIFORNIA RESIDENCE. 3. " DETROIT LIKE " In the early days of Mitchell only a few of this type of card had been seen, mostly on UN1 backs and although the back was familiar, the front did not have the Mitchell "look" The Titles were wrong as they were printed in pale grey block letter similar to some "Detroits" and the picture side of the card did resemble "Detroit." (If you didn't look too closely.) Hence the title "Detroit Like." However, in this group was one card that just didn't fit, front and back. The back was a fancy PMC unlike any Mitchell yet seen. and there the matter rested. The cards were sometimes numbered and sometimes not. Some of the photos were "Mitchell like" and some not. Recently, considerably more of these cards were obtained and many more PMC backs were noted of the same type as previously. This leads to the only exception to all the knowledge coming from the cards themselves, namely, book research was undertaken with the result that the PMC type back was located in "The American Card Catalog" by J. R. Burdick, on page 139. But that only deepened the puzzle! According to Mr. Burdick, This was an early back, usually unsigned, but known with Wall-Nichols imprint as printed by Mitchell. In the text it is pointed out that perhaps the credit line only appears once per sheet of cards. it is further stated this is a limited issue and may be Mitchell's first. The Problem is, these cards are poorly printed (unlike Mitchell). If they were his first, why did he still print them on UN1 type backs which didn't come into use until at least 1901? Edw. H. Mitchell was doing a much better job of printing than this from 1898 onward. So we have the situation that either he continued to print these poor cards, using strange (for Mitchell) title lettering long beyond his "first" efforts, or that for some strange reason he loaned his name to cards printed for Wall-Nichols. Another source of "book" information, was the March-April 1954 issue of "Post Card Collectors" magazine. Here Mr. W. Bourcy-Beckley states that these cards are Detroit type A-1. If this is indeed true, then perhaps Edw. H. Mitchell loaned some of his later post card stock to Detroit Publishing Co., after 1901. (UN1 types.) Once again, though, Detroit was already doing a much better job of printing than this effort, so it seems another blind alley to be determined in the future. It is quite likely that these "backs" were printed by an entirely different source and only incidentally used by Mitchell and/or Detroit. In any event, until other evidence comes to hand, they will remain "Detroit Like." The cards seen so far are listed below for information purposes. 1. Stow Lake, Huntington Falls. 2. Seal Rocks. 4. 7. Chinese Merchandise Store. 10. Mission Santa Barbara. 18. Giant Redwood. 19. Lick Observatory. 20. Mt. Tamalpais. 21. Cliff House, Cliff Road and Seal Rocks. 28. The Three Great Newspapers, Chronicle Examiner, and Call 29. Union Square, San Francisco. 31. 36. 39. 56. State Capitol, Sacramento, Cal. 58. Home of Ramona, California. 61. Powell Street, Looking up to California Street Hill. 64. Field of California Poppies. 65. Latourelle Falls, Oregon. 66. Mount Hood, Oregon. 68. Bridal Veil Falls, Oregon. 71. Mission Santa Barbara Corridor. 77. Old Mission, San Diego. 78. Hotel Del Coronado, Southern California. No# Spacious Residence in Upper Fruitvale. #10, 64, 71, 77 are definitely Mitchell photos (appear on other Mitchell cards). Most of the examples above were postmarked late 1904 or early 1905. The Photo used on #20 of this group is also used on a Weidner type card titled, Scenic Railway, Mount Tamalpais, California, but unfortunately Mr Weidner's name doesn't appear on this card. No one wanted credit? #28 is a Waters & Co. photo. #71 of this group appears as Mitchell #263 UNV and on that card appears the following on the lower right front: Copyright 1898 by Geo. P. Thresher. To end this special information section on Edw. H Mitchell Postcards it must be said that there are still many items that can still be found to document all the works of Mitchell. The undertaking of the data so far has taken many years to put together into a usable form. You will find many instances of why a comma/period is missing, but every effort has been made to show exactly what is on the card. Yes there are also misspelled words, etc. If you have found a card that does no exactly match the checklist for MITCHELL cards/material-Contact Walt: wrsky@aol.com ASAP. 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