Old (1905), aged, undivided back card with stamp and two postmarks.  Grade: 3

Mailed in 1926, this card has its protruding stamp and a postmark on each side.  Grade: 3

Mailed in 1905, this card has its stamp and three postmarks (sending and receiving stations) on the reverse.  Grade: 3

Tucked away in the far southeastern corner of France, Valdeblore has a history going back as far as there were records.  And the card?  Mailed in 1910, with stamp and postmark on each side.  Grade: 3

Mailed in 1913, with stamp and two postmarks.  Grade: 3

Not postally used, and with a pencilled message covering the reverse.  Grade: 4

The name seems to have morphed into Villars-sur-Var, in this ancient village, and reported to have the oldest cylinder organ in France.  Mailed in 1924, with stamp and two postmarks.  Grade: 3

Mailed in 1908, with stamp and postmark from sending or receiving station on either side.  In case you’ve forgotten, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac was a French chemist and physicist. He is known mostly for his discovery that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (with Alexander von Humboldt), for two laws related to gases, and for his work on alcohol-water mixtures, which led to the degrees Gay-Lussac used to measure alcoholic beverages in many countries.  So the next time you’re in a bistro in Limoges, with aperitif in hand, you have double reason to celebrate.  Grade: 2

From 1919, a card not postally used but with a message filling the reverse.  Grade: 4

Mailed in 1945 with two stamps and a continuous postmark, and redirection.  Grade: 3

Unused, contemporary card with 1942 artwork.  Three are available.  Grades: 1

Unused, contemporary card featuring older artwork.  Grade: 1

Unused, contemporary card with older artwork.  Grade: 1

Mailed from Monte Carlo in 1932, with stamp and postmark on the front, and large postmark on the back as well.  As always, the old messages are fun and nostalgic to read.  Now, forgive us because we weren’t planning to do this, but we’ll just write it once:  it’s a (N)ice card.  Grade: 1

Stamp and partial postmark are there, but we can’t determine when the old card was mailed.  Grade: 1

Mailed to Essex in 1905, this undivided back card has its stamp, two Paris postmarks, and one from London.  Grade: 3

Due to the way these unused real-photo postcards are attached to the book, we can’t easily scan individual ones.  But this is a detailed tour in and around the exterior and interior of the castle.  B&W cards often, but not always, captioned on both front and reverse.  Grade: 1

We can’t quite make out from the postmark when the card was mailed, but suppose it was 1931 or later because that’s what the stamp says.  In the event, we thought you might enjoy seeing what happens when we submit the original Wikipedia French version for English translation (slightly abridged only):  “Peïra-Cava is a village dependent on the municipality of Lucéram, located in the department of Alpes-Maritimes… Peira-Cava, the first winter sports resort in the department, enjoyed international renown in the early 20th century, as evidenced by the list of famous people who stayed in the resort. Attached to the village of Lucéram , the station nevertheless benefited from a system of electoral division which allowed the peir-cavois to elect their own municipal councilors.  Following several inquiries carried out by the Prefecture of the department and a decision of the municipal council, this section will be deleted.”  That’s cryptic!  Think of it as a ski resort.  Grade: 1 

If you look at the postmark, you’ll think the card was mailed in 1954.  If you look at the short message on the back (lacking any address, how was it delivered?), you might think it was 1934.  Unless your name is Celine and you write and tell us, we’ll never know.  Grade: 2

We thought of telling you the story behind this work by Aime Morot, but it’s so hot in our little room right now that it’s better left for you to do the search.  Stamp, and all or part of two postmarks on each side — none of them yielding up the date of mailing.  Grade: 1