Birn Brothers
An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcards is the standard reference book on embroidered silk postcards. It contains references to over 2600 different cards with over 270 illustrations. The section on cards produced by the Birn Bothers Company lists 140 cards. The cards listed below are additional cards discovered since the book was published. The new additions are shown in RED.
The Birn Brothers Company were a major publishing house established in the late 19th Century. They published books and greetings cards, as well as being prolific publishers of postcards of every type. Their embroidered silk postcards seem to have been introduced in about 1916, probably in response to the popularity of the cards, and covered most subjects: sentimental, patriotic, place names, and military.
They published embroidered silk postcards in several distinct styles in addition to the normal types with a fully embroidered silk panel. One common element in the appearance of most of their cards is the application of colour to the frames. Seven colours were used: blue, brown, green, grey, mauve, pink and dusky red.
In addition to being coloured, the shapes of the frames of Birn Brothers cards are also distinctive. Many of the vertical cards have a disc on the bottom right hand side as part of the frame, or a semi-circular panel at the bottom of the frame. A gold-embossed military badge is applied to the disc or panel. The captions listed are mainly embossed into the badge and can be difficult to read. Alternatively, a place name or greeting is printed on the disc or panel. The embroidered silk panels have designs that are unique to Birn Brothers and are not seen from other publishers. Most of the vertical designs were also sold as the fully embroidered silk postcard without the military badges. A few horizontal cards have the same disc or panel, but these mainly carry printed place names
Most of the horizontal cards have a smaller aperture for the silk panel, which is circular or diamond-shaped. This allows a military badge, place name or greeting to be embossed or printed alongside.
I have retained the arrangement of the listing of the cards as in the book, as this area can get very complex with the different styles that are known. I have also introduced a new listing of all known fully embroidered Birn Brothers cards.
Images of a representative selection of cards are shown beneath the listings.
Information and images on this site are © Ian Collins 2021.
No part may be reproduced, stored, transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author.
VERTICAL BIRN BROTHERS CARDS
Gold Embossed Military Badges
CAPTION DISC TYPE
The 2nd Life Guards THE 2nd LIFE GUARDS Circular
The Australian Engineer Corps THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH MILITARY FORCES Circular
THE AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS
The Bedfordshire Regiment BEDFORDSHIRE Circular
The Black Watch, The Royal Highland Regiment (Badge only) Circular
The Devonshire Regiment (Badge only) Circular
The Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment THE WEST RIDING Circular
The Glamorgan Yeomanry (Badge only) Semi-circular
The Gloucestershire Regiment GLOUCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT Circular
The Hampshire Regiment THE HAMPSHIRE REGT Circular
The King's Liverpool Regiment THE KING'S VIII Circular
The King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment THE KING'S OWN Semi-circular
The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry KO YORKSHIRE LI Circular
The King's Royal Rifle Corps THE KING’S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS Circular
The Norfolk Regiment THE NORFOLK REGIMENT Circular
The Northamptonshire Regiment (Badge only) Circular
The Machine Gun Corps MGC Circular
The Monmouthshire Regiment (Badge only) Circular
The Pembroke Yeomanry (Badge only) Semi-circular
The Princess Charlotte of Wales's Royal Berkshire Regiment
ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT Circular
The Prince of Wales's Own West Yorkshire Regiment
WEST YORKSHIRE Circular
WEST YORKSHIRE Semi-circular
The North Staffordshire Regiment NORTH STAFFORD Circular
NORTH STAFFORD Semi-circular
The Royal Fusiliers, The City of London Regiment (Badge only) Circular
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers GWELL ANGAU NA CHYWILYDD Circular
The Seaforth Highlanders THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS Circular
The Sherwood Foresters Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment
SHERWOOD FORESTERS NOTTS & DERBY Circular
The South Wales Borderers 24 THE SOUTH WALES BORDERERS EGYPT Circular
The Women's Royal Naval Service WOMEN’S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE Circular
The South African Forces (Badge only) Circular
Gold Embossed Crests
AUSTRALIA Circular
BLACKWOOD Circular
GUERNSEY Circular
JERSEY Circular
Printed Place Names
A GREETING FROM… BLOXWICH Circular
DONCASTER Circular
CLEETHORPES Circular
HAVERHILL Circular
DARTFORD Circular
HORIZONTAL BIRN BROTHERS CARDS
Gold Embossed Military Badges
The 381st Home Service Company THE 381st HOME SERVICE COMPANY
The East Kent Yeomanry THE EAST KENT YEOMANRY
The Australian Commonwealth Forces THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCES
The Canadian Expeditionary Force THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARYFORCE
The Canadian Machine Gun Corps THE CANADIAN MACHINE GUN CORPS
The Cheshire Regiment THE CHESHIRE REGIMENT
The Essex Regiment THE ESSEX REGIMENT
The Leicestershire Regiment LEICESTERSHIRE
The Munition Workers ON WAR SERVICE
The New Zealand Rifle Brigade THE NEW ZEALAND RIFLE BRIGADE
The Northamptonshire Regiment GREETINGS FROM GIBRALTAR
REMEMBRANCE FROM THE ROCK
The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment THE QUEEN'S
The Rifle Brigade THE RIFLE BRIGADE
The Royal Air Force AN XMAS GREETING FROM ONE OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
The Royal Artillery REMEMBRANCE FROM THE ROCK
The Royal Marine Light Infantry THE ROYAL MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY
The Royal Naval Air Service THE ROYAL NAVAL AIR SERVICE
The Royal Navy A CHRISTMAS GREETING FROM ONE OF THE ROYAL NAVY
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment THE WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT
The Sherwood Foresters, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment
THE NOTTS & DERBY REGIMENT
The Wiltshire Regiment THE WILTSHIRE REGIMENT
The United States Presidential Seal (Seal only. No caption)
Printed Place Names
A GREETING FROM…
ABERKENFIG ABINGDON ALDEBURGH ALDERSHOT ANDOVER
BARGOED BASINGSTOKE BATTERSEA BEARWOOD BRISTOL
BOURNE BRAMSHOTT
CHEPSTOW COVENTRY
DARTFORD
ELLESMERE, SALOP ELTHAM EPSOM
FAVERSHAM FELIXSTOWE FROME
GAINSBOROUGH GODALMING GRANTHAM GRAVESEND GRIMSBY
GROVE PARK
HEREFORD HUDDERSFIELD HYTHE
IPSWICH
LEYTON LINCOLN LIVERPOOL LLANGEFNI
MABLETHORPE MELTON MOWBRAY MILFORD HAVEN
NORTH SOMERCOTES
OLDBURY
PRESTON
ROCHDALE
St IVES, HUNTS SALTFLEET SANDWICH SCUNTHORPE SHEERNESS
SHEFFIELD SHOREHAM SKEGNESS SLEAFORD SOUTHALL
SOUTHSEA STOCKTON-ON-TEES SUNDERLAND
RYDE IW
TIDWORTH
WAKEFIELD WARMINSTER WENDOVER (RAF Badge) WEST HAM WESTHAM CAMP WEYMOUTH
WISBECH WHITLEY BAY WITLEY CAMP
Gold Embossed Crest
BARNES BROMLEY FAVERSHAM ILFORD
Circular Disc Types
BLACKWOOD CROYDON KEIGHLEY PORTSLADE STRATFORD
SWANAGE
Cards with Printed Greeting
GREETINGS MY VALENTINE TO MY AUNT TO MY BROTHER TO MY COUSIN
TO MY DAUGHTER TO MY DEAR CHILD TO MY DEAR DAUGHTER TO MY DEAR FATHER TO MY DEAR MOTHER
TO MY SWEET VALENTINE XMAS
FULLY EMBROIDERED BIRN BROTHERS CARDS
Embroidered Military Badges
The Army Service Corps (Appliqued Gold Badge only)
ASC
The Royal Army Medical Corps (Badge only)
(Badge only with motto - IN ARDUIS FIDELIS)
The Royal Navy ROYAL NAVY
Embroidered Town Crests
BALDOCK CLEETHORPES FAKENHAM KINGSTON-ON-HULL
HUNTINGDON RADCLIFFE SOUTHAMPTON
Embroidered Patriotic Greetings Cards
A GREETING FORGET ME NOT GOOD LUCK TO GIVE YOU GREETING MAYFLOWER 1620 ALLIED APRIL 1917
MIZPAH THAT YOU'LL REMEMBER ME TO SHOW YOU’RE IN MY THOUGHTS
WITH MY LOVE
Embroidered Sentimental Greetings Cards
(No caption) A GREETING FORGET ME NOT A LOVING GREETING
A VOLUME OF KIND THOUGHTS OF YOU BEST WISHES DEAR HEART FORGET ME NOT
DINNA FORGET EVER TRUE FORGET ME NOT
GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK FOR 1920 GREETING WITH BEST WISHES
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVING THOUGHTS LOVING WISHES
MY GREETING PANSIES FOR THOUGHTS PEACE
PEACE WITH HONOUR THOUGHTS OF THEE TO GREET YOU
TO MY DEAR LOVE TO MY DEAREST WITH LOVE WITH BEST WISHES
WITH FOND LOVE WITH FONDEST LOVE WITH LOVE
WITH LOVE TO GREET YOU WITH LOVING WISHES WITH MY LOVE TO YOU
WITH MY LOVE WORLDS OF GOOD WISHES YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS
