2nd August - The Market Hall in Ross-on-Wye, 1871

In a departure from the norm I couldn't resist posting a picture of a carte-de-visite from 1871, showing a photo of the famous old Market Hall in Ross-on-Wye. This building is still standing today, as are the buildings in the background, and markets are held underneath and in front of it.
Cartes-de-visite consisted of a thin albumen print of a photo stuck on to thicker card. Mostly they were portraits but later landscapes were produced as well. They could be sent through the post easily and as this was a great novelty in the 19th century, hundreds of thousands were produced and sold. In the late 19th and on into the 20th century, the printed postcard took over from cartes-de-visite. They could be sent without the need for an envelope and were ideal for quick notes owing to the cheap postage and the great number of postal collections and deliveries.
My mother has a postcard on which one of her uncles sent news of the birth of his daughter. He announced the glad tidings on a card featuring Dewsbury War Memorial.