Shanghai, 3 postcards sent by a photographer in Shanghai to his family in Scotland

Shanghai: Brewer & Co. Booksellers, 1902. Good + overall. Three full back postcards of Shanghai published in Shanghai, with blue images entitled, "Honan Road, Shanghai", "Tea House, Native City, Shanghai", and "Loong Hwa Pagoda near Shanghai". Brewer & Co are recorded in a 1904 edition of "The Directory and Chronicle for China ..." as being located at 31 Nanking Road.

The author who signs his postcards "D" is evidently a Shanghai photographer: he writes that he worked until 10 o'clock the previous night on the photographs, but worries that there is something wrong with the plates. "There are a great many little holes in them -- some not so little. But I think there ought to be a few good results." There is a D. MacLennan listed as in the employ of Chinese Maritime Customs Service Index, first appointed in July 1891 as a Watcher, and retired in Apr 1928 as Chief Tide Surveyor and Harbour Master in Ningpo. (Ancestry).

Two are signed with the initial "D", the third signed, "L. Ross". All are addressed to a Miss MacLennan, at 2 addresses in Scotland: 11 Thirlestane Road, Edinburgh, and at Eglinton, Wellington Road, Nairn.

5 1/2 x 3 3/4", a few corner defects, a diagonal crack in the Honan Road postcard, extending a small distance into the image. Postally used, undivided backs, green King Edward VII half penny stamps, canceled Edinburgh, 02.