Our Isle of Wight postmark print features a lovely collection of postmarks from the island spanning the years 1964-72, arguably the best period in the UK for ink stamp postmarks advertising resorts, towns and cities on outgoing mail.
Our mission: to boldly promote…
None of these three small etchings are at all shy about highlighting the Isle of Wight’s many charms, though here they mainly focus on the seaside pleasures of sunshine and sand.
The Ventnor postmark at the bottom is perhaps the most traditional, showing a view of the resort. Visually it really convinces – think Antibes with a pier. The palm trees and the elegant ‘Ventnor’ lettering seem to shimmer in the bright sunshine. Who wouldn’t want to visit after seeing this?
Above Ventnor there’s Shanklin, again with semi-shimmering lettering across an outline of the island surrounded by wavy-lined ocean and all rounded off with the tempting tagline More SUN! More SAND! More than where? Ventnor? They wouldn’t be so mean as to compete… Bognor, more likely.
At the top of the print there’s Sandown, with its tagline: for record sunshine. A delicately-mottled sandcastle stands proudly in front of a stylised sun, supporting a flag at a jaunty angle. Again, we’re presented with sun, sand and sea – Sandown knows what it’s offering and they’re keeping it simple and direct.
The Sandown postmark is not the only one to talk about record sunshine. Bragging about your resort’s annual hours of sun wasn’t limited to the Isle of Wight or the south coast, for that matter. It’ll be the subject of a post soon.
The pleasures of sending and receiving
This Isle of Wight print reminds us of another era… instead of reaching for your phone to let family and friends know you were having a good time, you’d pop down to a postcard kiosk, buy a handful of cards and dash off a few quick messages longhand.
The lucky recipient would then be treated to a splash of bright colours on the photo side of the card and on the back, not only would there be the satisfyingly-round date stamp but also a miniature inky engraving – each one unique – boldly tempting and cajoling you to pay the place a visit yourself the following year.
Who wouldn’t want to get one of these through the post?
Postcard-sending is a bit of a minority pursuit these days, and even if you’re lucky enough to get a card, the workaday ink-jet postmark will probably leave you a little underwhelmed. Still, with The Inky Postmark you can enjoy the miniature works of art that are the classic postmarks of the sixties.
