LL3 Sussex Cards

LL - Postcard Publishers from Paris, France

LL in Sussex

The LL cards of Sussex are many and varied, and this short article highlights some of the towns and villages visited by the LL photographers.

The first series for traditional resorts and centres such as Brighton, Eastbourne, Rottingdean and Shoreham were all issued in 1905. A long series of cards of Hastings appeared slightly later, in spring 1906.

Other established and developing centres such as Bognor, Littlehampton, Arundel, Newhaven and Worthing followed over the next 2 years. Then in 1913 and 1914, new revised series were produced for Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings and Rye. A start was also made with St Leonards, and at the same time cards for new locations such as Chichester and Bexhill appeared. Some of the original images were retained for this new series, but others were new updated photographs. For the new ones, it is clear that local photographers were used rather than Levy’s own staff.

A short series for the old village of Alfriston was produced in 1908, and a couple of the numbers have never been seen! Many printings were made of the Arundel cards which first appeared in 1906. Bexhill was a 1914 addition, and few printings were produced. Bognor cards were issued in phases, numbers 1 to 23 in 1907, followed by numbers 24 to 31 in 1910/11, and the final 26 cards 2 to 4 years later.

A long series of 86 cards of Brighton were put on sale for the summer of 1905, and are amongst the earliest of LL English cards. Various printings were made, starting with the earliest back types, with black, sepia and coloured versions for many of them.

Hastings has the highest number of LL cards apart from London. A first series of no less than 136 cards was sold from 1906, and 4 more were added a couple of years later. A second new series of 77 cards appeared in 1913. Some cards in the first series apparently continued to be on sale for many years, even after the second series had been produced.

The St Leonards-on-Sea cards were issued shortly after the Hastings series, and a second series for St Leonards was also started. Only 6 cards from this second series are known, and earliest posting dates for these are post World War 1.

Shoesmith & Etheridge (Photo Printers of Hastings) issued late printings of a few LL cards with their own caption script, and glossy sepia finish.

Following is a list of towns or villages in Sussex with the highest number so far found (some do not have numbers which are not included here, and some have more than one series), along with the earliest posting date:

TOWN or VILLAGE HIGHEST NUMBER EARLIEST DATE

Alfriston 12 2nd April 1908

Arundel 20 13th September 1906

Bexhill 12 26th April 1914

Bodiam Castle 1 25th July 1907

Bognor 57 22nd March 1907

Brighton 88 21st June 1905

Chichester 33 9th June 1913

Eastbourne 119 17th May 1905

Hastings 140 4th April 1906

Littlehampton 31 21st February 1907

Newhaven 27 13th April 1906