Bradford Exhibition, 1904

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Postcards of a Somali Village, created for the exhibition, held in Lister Park, Bradford.

Notes on Bradford exhibition postcards

Colour Series: The cards have the wording: the “Rosemont Series” (Photo by Rosemont, Leeds). Published by H.M. Trotter & Co., Bradford. This is printed down the left-hand side of the back.

Joseph Rosemont was a Leeds-based photographer who put in a bid of £80 to become official photographer at the Bradford Exhibition. Unfortunately local Bradford photographer, Alfred Coe was unsuccessful although he did submit a bid. Joseph Rosemont opened a studio at 13 Rawson Square, in late 1903 or early 1904, occupying the premises until just before the First World War. Many cards of the event used Rosemont images; possibly paying some form of royalty fee. This series is commonly known as the official colour series of the event. It was produced as a set of 12, printed by the Glasgow-based company Millar & Lang Ltd, who ranked with the Dundee-based company Valentines as one of the largest producers of picture postcards in the country. Millar & Lang were producing 1 million postcards per week by 1904. The publisher was Herbert Morris Trotter, a wholesale newsagent with premises in Albion Court and at 691, Wakefield Road. During the run of the exhibition he published many souvenirs. He became a Councillor and served as Lord Mayor (1923-1924). Unfortunately his reputation was clouded caught by a court case at which he was found guilty and imprisoned.

Black and white postcards of the Somalis: Produced as a set of six originally with black titles. The wording was virtually invisible on the background of most of the cards and they were reprinted with the titles in white. Again the cards were produced from Joseph Rosemont’s photographs and published by H.M. Trotter & Co. Unfortunately the printer remains unknown.

Year

1904

Creator

Joseph Rosemont (photographer), HM Trotter (publisher)

Image filename

142-1967

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