Production of German Picture Postcards at the Western Front 1915–1916 as Exemplified by the Imagery of the Church Bell of Marquillies (Département du Nord, France)

Abstract

During World War I the soldiers’ life at and behind the frontline was captured by personal photography. While heavily regulated and censored on the allied side, conditions were more relaxed for German soldiers, and for German officers, in particular. Drawing on a large sample set of images of the same subject matter, a French church bell with a patriotic, anti-German inscription, this paper surveys the private production of picture postcards by German soldiers. Initially photographed by a range of individuals, some images were eventually produced as printed lithographed postcards by regional German publishers. The processes and limitations of the personal versus commercial production of picture postcards are discussed.

1. Introduction

Soon after its invention, photography has been used not only for portraiture but also to document events. In the early days, until skills in retouching and falsification increased, photography provided a sense of authenticity and veracity that sketches and paintings did not [1]. Unsurprisingly, then, photography was used to document armed conflict and portray its effects on people and places [2].

Commencing with images taken during the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–1849), war photography soon became both a tool for documentation and for image generation (propaganda), both through the choice of topics and through selective framing of subject matter [2]. This first emerged in the Crimean War (1853–1856), where differences between the official photographers are apparent [3,4].

While many of the nineteenth-century conflicts occurred far from the centers of colonial power, the American Civil War (1861–1865) occurred ‘on home soil,’ with considerable interest in material for pictorial newspapers as well as for images for private viewing. Photographers on both sides showed troops and equipment in encampments, the setting of battlefields, the effects of shelling and the aftermath of battles, including the dead and wounded. Some images are documentary in nature, reflecting the realities on the ground (albeit selectively framed), while others are carefully constructed tableaux, designed to extoll success. Sold as prints and stereoscopic images for hand-held viewers, as well as printed compilations, these images brought home the ferocity and atrocity of combat [1,5,6].

Improvements in the technical capabilities of the cameras, including smaller camera bodies and faster lenses, as well as the development of more sensitive emulsions, allowed for less static photography [2]. From World War I onwards, special photo correspondents, war photographers in modern parlance, were embedded in some operational units, documenting their exploits for the press of the day [7,8,9]. Together with official war photographers, they created a carefully curated, if not censored, set of images for official, public and private consumption both in newspapers [10,11,12] and in photobooks that were published intermittently. Some of these images were also reproduced in the form of postcards, thereby reaching wider distribution.

Private photography during World War I is a more contested space. While frontline photography was prohibited to ensure the secrecy of military positions, private imagery in marshaling depots and bivouac areas seem to have been permissible by all combatant nations—at least initially.

The introduction of the Vest Pocket Kodak, a small (2.5 × 6 × 12 cm) and lightweight collapsible camera that took 127 format film in 1912 made photography truly portable. With the introduction of the Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic in 1915 [13], Kodak added the ‘autographic’ feature, which allowed annotations to be written on the edge of the unexposed 4 cm × 6.5 cm negative (Figure 1) [14]. Its eminently portable size, which literally fitted into the pocket of a tunic, combined with its relative ease of use, saw many Allied soldiers take the camera into the field [15]. After British newspapers offered cash prizes for frontline imagery [15], British command prohibited the taking and dissemination of any private photographs [16], even though this was not universally obeyed [15].

The French approach differed significantly, as evidenced by the Paris camera house Photo-Plait, which marketed the Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic to serving soldiers as Le Kodak du Soldat (the soldier’s Kodak) [17,18]. Photo-Plait sold the camera by exhorting customers to “illustrate [their] personal impressions of the Great War” (Illustrez vos impressions personnelles de la grande guerre) and claimed that “every soldier wants to keep lasting memories of the role played by him and his regiment in the great war” (Chaque soldat désire garder des souvenirs durables du rôle joué par lui et son régiment dans la grande guerre) [17,18] A pamphlet about the camera also showed images of soldiers and large field artillery [19] Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic cameras were also marketed to Italian audiences as the camera for “every officer and soldier” (ogni ufficiale e soldato) [20,21].

Similarly, with the American entry into the war in 1917, Kodak marketed the Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic to American households as ‘a parting gift’ that would allow soldiers “the training camps and during the months of forced inaction” to take “pictures of comrades and camp life” [22]. In its U.S. marketing material, Kodak was careful not to alienate military censors by stating that pictures of comrades and camp life could “be photographed without endangering any military secret” and noting that “tens of thousands of brave lads in the camps and trenches in France are keeping their own Kodak story of the war—a story that will always be intense to them as it is history from their viewpoint…their story of their war” [22].

Private photography during World War I also appears to have been likewise less regulated on the German side given the range of private images and photo albums held in public [23,24,25] and private hands. During the early months of the war, German magazines dedicated to amateur photography commented on the demand for cameras at the front [26,27]. While the Vest Pocket Kodak was not widely sold in Imperial Germany, an equivalent existed in the form of the Nettel Piccolette [13]. As well as other 4 × 6.5 cm/127 film cameras such as the Franca Bubi and its plate equivalent, the Westentaschen-Bubi [28]. Indeed, German camera manufacturers also extolled the virtues of the small cameras as eminently suitable for personal photography of the war, even though some of the advertised cameras exceeded four times the monthly pay of a common soldier [29].

While some amateur photographers developed their own negatives and printed images at and near the front, little is known about that aspect of wartime photography. One of the limitations of the 127 format was that an enlarger was required unless the amateur photographer was content with 4 × 6.5 cm negative-sized contact prints. To allow soldiers to enjoy their images, Photo-Plait, for example, offered a development and printing service for the 127 format films sent in from the front. Thus, while a considerable body of images exists, there is little information on the printing and dissemination of images at or near the frontline.

1.1. Postcard Production Prior to World War I

The production of picture postcards commenced in 1885 when the German Postal service permitted the production and mailing of picture postcards without imprinted stamps. Other countries soon followed suit, such as the United Kingdom in 1894 and the U.S.A. in 1898 [30]. The postal permits for the early cards required that the verso side of the card be blank of text bar the postal address, thus limiting design opportunities. The first true picture postcards with full-size images could be published once the requirement for an undivided back had been dropped in January 1902 in the United Kingdom, in November 1904 in France, in February 1905 in Germany and in March 1907 in the U.S.A. [30].

Printed postcards are artificial creations made for consumption by a given market. The production of postcards during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century represents a relationship between the consumer and the publisher and is closely intertwined with pre-existing imagery distributed in the form of albumen prints and stereo cards [30]. Postcard publishers ranged from major publishing houses servicing the souvenir trade in major towns and tourist attractions to small-scale book or drug stores servicing the demands of a smaller community. Common to both was that the physical production of the cards was carried by major lithographic printing firms, primarily in Germany (at least until World War I).

The ready availability of colorful screen-printed picture postcards of popular tourist attractions provided vacationers with an avenue to broadcast where they had been and set in motion a concomitant collecting craze [30]. A case study of printed postcards with motifs of Californian fan palms, for example, showed that the majority of cards in the dataset had never been sent as message-bearing postcards, but were instead unused and must have been included in letters, serving as cheap pictorial images. Where cards went through the mail stream, most bore brief messages (“Greetings from…”) or made reference to the fact that the card was sent to add to the collection of the recipient [31].

The consumption of printed postcards is a tangible manifestation of the social relationship between the sender, commonly the tourist, and the recipient [32]. For the sender, the card functions as an authentication of their travel and reinforces their position on the social ladder of their home community. To the recipients, the card either put them into their social place, as they had not (yet) been there, or it served to show that the traveler had now achieved a like status to the recipient [33].

A considerable body of scholarship deconstructs the imagery shown on the printed picture postcards of colonial and exotic locales such as Arabia [34], French Indo-China [35], German Micronesia [36], Korea [37], New Caledonia [38], Senegal [39], and Tahiti [40,41]. The image selection and framing of postcards convey messages to the viewer, messages that the audience, both purchaser and recipient of a card, would have well understood.

Thus postcards are a good indicator of a visitor’s interest, as the sending of a postcard image requires an active selection of the image by the tourist (assuming that a range of cards is available) [42,43,44,45,46,47,48]. These messages carried in the imagery can also be overtly or covertly political in nature. In colonial-era settings, they stereotyped the landscapes or people and showed colonial infrastructure and other developments as evidence of colonial power [38,49]. Other productions contain subliminal messaging to influence public perception [50].

Printed postcards, however, are governed by the commercial interests of the publishers, who tend to copy each other’s offerings, thereby creating a stereotyped set of destination imagery that closely interfaces with imagery in tourism brochures produced by hotels, tourist attractions and transportation providers such as railways and shipping lines [33] that is no different from modern destination imagery generation [43,51,52]. In addition, there are advertising and promotional postcards, produced by travel companies and by the proprietors of accommodation establishments [30].

1.2. Real Photo Postcards

By 1900, cheap personal photography was being popularized by Kodak and other manufacturers, with sales of image-ready packs of glass plate negatives or roll film. Camera makers, as well as mail-order stores offered a range of compact (mainly 9 × 12 cm) cameras that were easy to use [53,54]. Roll film cameras had the benefit that the photographer could hand the exposed film into a photo store for development and subsequent printing of the images without the requirement to own or have access to a darkroom and the concomitant required knowledge of film and print development.

Photopaper manufacturers capitalized on the popularity of printed postcards and sold photopaper that was not only pre-cut to postcard size but that also already carried on the non-emulsion (verso) side with the required partition between message and address fields as well as the obligatory lines for the latter [33]. Often a field identifying the preferred position for the postage stamp was also indicated. Early books written on amateur photography, such as Wall and Snowden Ward [55] or Tennant [56], give directions on how amateurs could produce these real photo cards.

Whether self-printed or commercially developed in a photo store, the development of postcard-ready photopaper empowered individuals to take their own interpretations of destination imagery and thus create their own narrative, which could be readily disseminated via postal services. It provided individuals and stores with the opportunity of producing destination imagery in small production runs, effectively on demand, without the capital outlay required for printed postcards. Consequently, the production of real photo postcards serviced geographic and topical niche markets, as well as imagery that reflected recent events.

The ultimate in individualized travel photography was provided by commercial photographers outside tourist attractions, offering visitors the opportunity to have their portrait taken with a formulaic framing against a canonized background, for example, St Mark’s Basilica in Venice (Italy). Efficient production flows meant that tourists could pick up their printed portraits, ready for mailing within an hour [33].

An examination of early-twentieth-century photo albums and glass plate collections held in private hands or offered by online auction houses shows a combination of portraits, often Cabinet Cards produced by local photographic studios, and photographs taken by individual amateur photographers. In addition to non-studio images of persons, amateur photographs tend to show residences and landscapes as well as views that could be classed as tourist attractions, both locally and abroad.

It is not surprising, then, that these amateur photographers would take their cameras with them to the war—a war that, after all, was supposed to be “over by Christmas”. Given the nature of the available cameras, in terms of size, ruggedness of construction and demands of operation, it is not surprising that soldiers did take combat photographs, by restricting their subject matter to the aftermath of bombardment and shelling, or took photographs of fellow soldiers and bivouac and billet locations behind the front.

While images taken by private individuals during World War I have been frequently used to illustrate historical publications, the availability of such small-scale production runs has so far not been examined in any detail in the scholarship of war photography. The only exception is a paper by Vanderwood who examined the choice of subject on postcards depicting the Battle of Veracruz (between U.S. and Mexican forces in 1914). He noted the influence of the viewpoint of the sender, where “U.S. military men on occupation duty wanted people in the States to believe that they were suffering dangerous and rigorous hard- ship duty,” while Mexican defenders wanted to portray their vigilance and steadfastness [57].

This paper will use images of a French church bell captured by German forces in 1915 to examine the production of German picture postcards on the Western Front. It will show that photography at forward bases, marshaling and recuperation yards was not uncommon and that numerous soldiers took their own cameras to the front.

2. Historic Context of the Bell of Marquillies

The Catholic church Sainte-Geneviève in Marquillies (Département du Nord, France) was fitted with a new bell to replace its original bell of 1785, which had cracked [58]. The new bell was cast in 1897 by the firm of Charles Druot in Douai [59]. The bell is decorated with two belts with the following inscriptions: L’an 1897, 18 du mois de juillet, |M. Alexandre Coget étant maire de Marquillies, |Louis Millecamps, vice-doyen, curé et Emile Dubart, pro-curé” and “. J’ai été baptisée par M. Carpentier, doyen de La Bassée|et nommée Catherine Pauline Louise. |Mon parrain a été M. Coget, maire et ma marraine Mme Brame » (The year 1897, 18th of July, Mr. Alexandre Coget being mayor of Marquillies, Louis Millecamps, vice-dean, parish priest and Emile Dubart, procurator. I was baptized by Mr. Carpentier, dean of La Bassée and named Catherine Pauline Louise. My godfather was Mr. Coget, mayor and my godmother Mrs. Brame). In addition, the bell carried a partisan inscription on the lower ornamental belts on its shoulder: Je loue le vrai Dieu, j’appelle les fidèles aux offices divins et j’espère sonner un jour la victoire et le retour à la France de l’Alsace et la Lorraine (I praise the true God, I call the faithful to divine offices and I hope one day to ring the bell for victory and the return to France of Alsace and Lorraine). Even though Alsace and Lorraine are 400 km from Marquillies, the inscription reflects the deep-seated resentment at Imperial Germany’s annexation of French homeland territory.

Marquillies was occupied by German forces in early September 1914 and by virtue of having a railway connection to Lille, served as the location of an advanced armaments depot, field hospital and a rest and marshaling area for troops of the VII Army Corps [59]. The bell was rung by the German forces as a messaging device and to celebrate their victories. When the meaning of the inscription on the main belt was discovered by a French-speaking German officer in 1915, it caused considerable annoyance among the German occupiers. The officer, Dr. Julius Rath, ref. [60] ordered one of his subordinates to add German inscriptions, celebrating the German victories (primarily on the Eastern Front) [61].

The fact that German soldiers inscribed the bell with the dates of German military victories and given that the town of Marquillies served as a marshaling area of the German VII Army Corps on a major section of the Western Front, which at the time was bogged down in trench warfare, gave the bell considerable and disproportionate prominence. Consequently, a wide range of images of the bell was produced, both private real photo postcards and cards formally produced by German postcard publishers.

The history and significance of the ‘cloche patriotique’ at Marquillies (Département du Nord, France), and its role in French pre-World War I and German World War I propaganda has been discussed elsewhere [61]. The purpose of this document is to examine the range of contemporary photographs of the bell, to examine their modes of production and to contextualize their production for scholarly analysis. This paper represents a first examination of image production and reproduction in conditions very near to the German frontlines during World War I.

3. Methodology

The card images that form the basis of this paper were sourced through established image search methodologies for objects deemed to be collectible [30,33,50]. This entailed systematic online searches using text-based search logic in German, English and French allowing for a mis-spelling of the town name (Marquillies/Marquilles/Marquillis + Glocke/cloche/bell) both on the general WWW (using search engines Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo); on on-line auction houses such as eBay (both www.ebay.fr, accessed on 12 December 2022 and www.ebay.de, accessed on 12 December 2022), Hood (www.hood.de, accessed on 12 December 2022), and Delcampe (www.delcampe.net/fr/collections/search?term=Marquilles, accessed on 12 December 2022); and sales platforms such as Amazon, Etsy, Zentrales Verzeichnis Antiquarischer Bücher (www.zvab.com, accessed on 12 December 2022) and AbeBooks (www.abebooks.com, accessed on 12 December 2022). Image aggregator sites such as PicClick (http://picclick.com, accessed on 12 December 2022) allow ready access to such images and through these access to the original listings. Once images had been identified, further examples could be located using image-matching software provided as part of the search function of Google images (https://images.google.com, accessed on 12 December 2022) and Bing (https://www.bing.com/images/, accessed on 12 December 2022). Additional images were located in printed publications and newspapers, using systematic full-text searches in online historic newspaper sites.

At the time of writing none of the glass plate or sheet film negatives of these images have been located.

The images were compiled over the period February 2021 to December 2022 and are reproduced as Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 10, Figure 11, Figure 12, Figure 13, Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16 and Figure 17. In total 58 postcards and postcard images (including duplicates) could be drawn on for this study.

4. Results

Given the proximity of Marquillies to the frontline and given that the town was a rest area, as well as a major supply depot, the demand for cards as souvenirs and as sign-of-life cards seems to have been high. The available images are either real photographs or cards printed by publishers.

4.1. Classification of Images

The German text was added in two columns, with column A placed directly under the word ‘France’ of the original cast inscription on the shoulder belt. Column B was later added to the left of column A. It appears that the positioning of the physical access to the bell’s skirt meant that column B could not be readily added to the right of column A, which would have made sense from a ‘normal’ approach to positioning text columns.

Text of Column A: Geläutet am 3. Mai 1915 durch|deutsche Soldaten|anlässlich des Sieges über die Russen|in West-Galizien. |und am 22. Juni 1915|anlässlich der Wiedereinnahme von|Lemberg. |am 4. Aug.[ust] 1915 anlässl.[ich] der|Einnahme von Warschau.

Text of Column B: Geläutet anlässlich|der Einnahme von|Kowno am 18.8.1915. |Nowo-Georgiewsk am 19.8.1915. |Brest-Litowsk am 26.8.1915.

German and Austrian newspaper coverage from March 1918, noting the bell being exhibited in the Imperial Armory (‘Zeughaus’) in Berlin (Figure 17), state that two additional inscriptions had been added in 1916 to the bottom of column B: “Kut el Amara am 29. 4. 1916. Skagerrak am 31. 5. 1916” [62]. Archival files from the Zeughaus indicate that these inscriptions had been added prior to the bell’s arrival in Berlin [63].

Based on the sequence of the inscriptions, images of seven discrete states of the bell may potentially exist (

Table 1. Sequence of the inscriptions on the bell of Marquillies.

State	Identifying Criteria of the Various States of the Inscriptions
I	blank, pre-World War I (no German text)
II	text in column A, first entry (created on or after 3 May 1915)
III	text in column A, with Lemberg entry added (created on or after 22 June 1915)
IV	text in column A, with Warsaw entry added (created on or after 4 August 1915)
V	text column B added, ending with Brest-Litowsk entry (created on or after 26 August 1915)
VI	text in column B, with Kut el Amara and Skagerrak entries (created on or after 31 May 1916)
VII	blank, German text removed (after 1919)

).

It is unclear whether images were ever taken of all states of the bell. It can be surmised that an image may exist that shows the bell prior to it being mounted in the church tower. At the time of writing, however, only images showing the bell with inscription states III and V could be documented. In addition, at the time of writing it is not clear whether the congregation of Marquillies removed the inscriptions immediately after the return of the bell to Marquillies in early 1919 or later [61]. The current state of the bell as hung in the tower no longer shows the offending inscriptions.

The quality of the photographic images is such that it allows us to ascertain that different people engraved the various texts. The shape of the capital ‘W’ in the words “West-Galizien,” ‘Wiedereinnahme’ and “Warschau” shows that the texts of states II, III and IV were engraved by different hands (Figure 1). Additional idiosyncrasies are that the ‘z’ in “West-Galizien” and the ‘N’ in ‘Nowo-Georgiewsk‘ are mirror-imaged.

4.1.1. Images of State III

There are five different base photographs that show the entire bell (Types A, B, C/D, E/F, G) and one that shows only the inscription (Type H) (Figure 2, Figure 7 and Figure 8). All these images would have been taken in the last week of June 1915 or throughout the month of July 1915. The images showing the full bell have been taken from an elevated vantage point, similar to that which shows Julius Rath (Figure 12) and his farrier (Figure 13). This appears to have been the best location to set up a tripod. A second image (Figure 7E,F) as well as a close-up (Figure 8B) were taken at a much lower angle.

Completely different is the framing of the image used for a printed postcard, which seems to have been taken straight on (Figure 9E). It is the only photo available for analysis that shows the bell from that angle. Given that the actual clapper would have been below a wooden beam (compare Figure 10A), the clapper in the postcard image has been retouched in—a common practice at the time [30]. Moreover, the support structure for the bell differs significantly from the original, suggesting that the bell images were copied into an existing image of a different bell.

Figure 2. Evidence that the texts were engraved by at least three different hands. Note the formation of the capital “W” in ‘West-Galizien,’ ‘in Wiedereinnahme,’ and ‘in Warschau’ (Detail of Figure 8F).

Figure 2. Evidence that the texts were engraved by at least three different hands. Note the formation of the capital “W” in ‘West-Galizien,’ ‘in Wiedereinnahme,’ and ‘in Warschau’ (Detail of Figure 8F).

By the time the bell was first photographed, the section of the offending French text on the shoulder belt (…victoire et le retour à la France de l’Alsace et la Lorraine) had been polished to stand out better and thus be able to be read more clearly on the resulting photographs. The fact that this was carried out as preparation for the photographs is evident when one considers that the cast lettering on the other two shoulder belts at the same position on the bell remained dulled throughout the period.

4.1.2. Images of State V

The next set of images shows the bell in State V. There are three different base photographs that have been produced (A/D, E, F/G). A major difference was that in the imagery of state V onward the German text is much more readable than when photographed for state III. It appears that the engraved letters were filled with white material (either chalk or gypsum) to make them stand out better (Figure 4, Figure 9, Figure 10 and Figure 11). The white fill also demonstrates that the image showing a German soldier in the process of engraving is staged (Figure 13).

By this time the bell had attained sufficient fame that it became economically viable for some postcard publishers to issue printed cards. On record are six printed cards, five with the photograph type A/D as their source (Figure 10B–E). The other printed card (Figure 10F) differs from all others of state V inasmuch as it shows the waist of the bell, in particular, the text of columns B, to be heavily covered in bird excrement. This suggests that at that time the roof of the tower would have been damaged, allowing birds to freely access the bell chamber.

4.1.3. Other Images

In early 1917 the bell was removed to the German Armory in Berlin where it was photographed on display in the courtyard (Figure 16A). It was returned in March 1919 [64]. At least one of the cards, even though showing the bell in its original position in the belfry, was produced by a French publisher after the return of the bell in 1919, as the postcard text makes clear reference to that effect (Figure 12B). Upon return, the bell was suspended from a temporary frame erected in the churchyard as the church itself was destroyed [59]. The available image does not provide much detail (Figure 16B).

Figure 3. Bell of Marquillies, state III RPPC Type A. All printed on Type A paper. Three different exposures from the same glass plate negative, (A,B) undated; (C) hand dated (on verso) 7 September 1915.

Figure 3. Bell of Marquillies, state III RPPC Type A. All printed on Type A paper. Three different exposures from the same glass plate negative, (A,B) undated; (C) hand dated (on verso) 7 September 1915.

5. Discussion

5.1. Real Photo Postcards

Real photo postcards (RPPCs) were individually printed in a darkroom, presumably at supply depots near the front, using paper that had pre-printed postcard markings on the non-emulsion side. While a number of different types of photopaper can be identified due to differences in line positioning and line patterns (see Appendix), none of the papers carry markings that would allow identification of the paper manufacturer (unlike contemporary examples from the USA [30]). At present, there is no typology of photopaper with postcard imprints of German manufacture. A typology of photopapers represented among the postcard images discussed in this paper is provided as Appendix A.

As these cards were essentially printed on demand, the overall number of printed cards depended on the popularity of the motif, the presence of the owner of the glass plate negative to print it, and the availability of the required paper and chemicals. Some cards were available for purchase for a considerable time as demonstrated by the number of cards that have been on the market and the range of recorded dates. A good example is State V Type D (Figure 9B) for which a copy is documented with a handwritten date (on the verso) of 7 September 1915, and another that bears a postmark of 26 June 1916.

In some instances, an explanatory caption is included in the glass-plate negative, scratched into the emulsion, and thus showing on the print in black. Obvious examples are the State III Type A cards (Figure 2), but also State III Type C (Figure 7B,C) and State V Type D (Figure 9A–C). Because the section where the text was added is already dark, it is more difficult to read. In addition, there is one example where the text was added to the negative using black ink, which in the print appears as white (Figure 3). There are also hybrid approaches, such as a State V Type B card which is an original RPPC (Figure 8E) but carries the printed text ‘Die Glocke von Marquillies 1915’ on its address side (Figure A1c).

Figure 4. Examples of caption text written onto the emulsion. (A): ‘—Glocke v. Maquillies 1915—’ State III Type A (Figure 2); (B) ‘Die histor. Glocke v. Maquillies’ State III Type C (C) ‘Glocke von Maquillies’ State V Type E (Figure 9B), (D) ‘Franz. Glocke in Maquillis [sic]’ State V Type G (Figure 9E) and (E) ‘Glocke von Marqillies. [sic]’ State III Type E (Figure 7F).

Figure 4. Examples of caption text written onto the emulsion. (A): ‘—Glocke v. Maquillies 1915—’ State III Type A (Figure 2); (B) ‘Die histor. Glocke v. Maquillies’ State III Type C (C) ‘Glocke von Maquillies’ State V Type E (Figure 9B), (D) ‘Franz. Glocke in Maquillis [sic]’ State V Type G (Figure 9E) and (E) ‘Glocke von Marqillies. [sic]’ State III Type E (Figure 7F).

For instance, we have in hand both prints of the negative (Figure 7D) as well as prints with an inscription added in black ink at a later stage (Figure 7E). That inscription shows a corrected error in the word ‘Glocke’ (seemingly originally spelled ‘Colocke’) as well as a misspelled town name (“Marquillies’, note the missing ‘u’). Similarly, the inscription on the state V card Figure 9B misspells the town name (‘Marquillis’, note the missing ‘e’).

As in both cases the text was added in black ink on the emulsion side of the glass (which would face up during printing), there was no opportunity to remove the inscription and start again without damaging the emulsion.

Because the RPPCs were all direct prints from the original negatives via contact printing (i.e., a scale of 1:1) the resolution of these printed images is very high. The images of three State V cards (Types A–C) illustrate the production process quite well. The Type A card not only shows the full image but also retains the edge of the original plate, replete with the shadows of the metal plate holder (Figure 8D, bottom margin). Prints from the same negative, but not issued as postcards also exist (Figure 8C). A second printing from the same negative crops out the edges of the glass plate by the imposition of a mask (Figure 8E) as does another version with a slightly smaller mask (Figure 8F).

Also, because the RPPCs were produced on demand (which implies multiple darkroom sessions), there is considerable variability in exposure and thus final quality. That is well illustrated in the case of the State III Type A card (Figure 2) where the images range from light to dark. Consequently, the highlights can be overblown (Figure 2A), or the shadows will be too dark (Figure 2C).

Figure 5. Bell of Marquillies, state V. All printed on type B paper. Print variations from the same original (A–D) damaged glass plate negative (E,F). (A–D) RPPC Type D; (E,F) RPPC Type E note the damage to the negative in the left column of the inscribed text.

Figure 5. Bell of Marquillies, state V. All printed on type B paper. Print variations from the same original (A–D) damaged glass plate negative (E,F). (A–D) RPPC Type D; (E,F) RPPC Type E note the damage to the negative in the left column of the inscribed text.

There is, of course, the possibility that the photographer set up his tripod and took multiple exposures of the same framing, thus creating several negatives of an identically framed image. This can be ruled out in the examples of State III Type A cards (Figure 2). While all show significant differences in the highlights and shadows, they are clearly made from the same glass plate negative, as evidenced by the handwritten inscription which shows no variation in positioning between the images.

Figure 6. Variations in the lettering of the caption text scratched into the emulsion. (Top): State V Type D (Figure 4A); (bottom): Type E Figure 4C).

Figure 6. Variations in the lettering of the caption text scratched into the emulsion. (Top): State V Type D (Figure 4A); (bottom): Type E Figure 4C).

Figure 7. Damage to the emulsion. (Left): State V Type D (Figure 4A); (right): State V Type E Figure 4C).

Figure 7. Damage to the emulsion. (Left): State V Type D (Figure 4A); (right): State V Type E Figure 4C).

Given that the bulk of the images were taken on glass plates, it is indeed not surprising that the plates would become damaged over time, in particular, given that the conditions at Marquillies were not ideal and that, presumably, the darkroom(s) were not permanent but had to be reestablished each time. Consequently, some of the negative plates suffered over time. One example of damage to plates can be found on State V Type D (Figure 4A) and Type E (Figure 4C) images. Close inspection of the caption text in relation to elements of the image itself (Figure 5) shows that we are dealing with the same glass plate negative. While the writing is, at first sight, different, close inspection shows that the serifs in the lettering of Type E were added later. In addition, the negative of State V Type E has small emulsion damage (Figure 6). The State V Type D cards are much more common that the State V Type E cards, suggesting that the printing from that negative ceased soon after the damage occurred.

Because RPPCs were all direct prints from glass plate negatives via contact printing, but, at least in the case of this specific negative the size of the original glass plate (120 × 150 mm) that would have been used is greater than the standard size of the photopaper (87 × 137 mm), the placement of the bell varies in relation to the postcard margins (compare Figure 4A with Figure 4D or Figure 4E with Figure 4F).

Figure 8. Bell of Marquillies, state III. (A) RPPC Type B printed on type B2 photopaper; (B) RPPC Type Ca. The scratched-in text reads “ Die hist. Glocke v. Marquillies” printed on type D photopaper (C) RPPC Type Cb. printed on type A photopaper. Note the damage to the glass plate at top right. (D) RPPC Type D printed on type C photopaper; (E) RPPC Type E printed on type B1 photopaper; (F) RPPC Type E printed on type B1 and B2 photopaper. Note that (F) is the same negative as (E) but with an added inscription.

Figure 8. Bell of Marquillies, state III. (A) RPPC Type B printed on type B2 photopaper; (B) RPPC Type Ca. The scratched-in text reads “ Die hist. Glocke v. Marquillies” printed on type D photopaper (C) RPPC Type Cb. printed on type A photopaper. Note the damage to the glass plate at top right. (D) RPPC Type D printed on type C photopaper; (E) RPPC Type E printed on type B1 photopaper; (F) RPPC Type E printed on type B1 and B2 photopaper. Note that (F) is the same negative as (E) but with an added inscription.

While the images used for the cards State V Type D and State V Type E fill the entire photopaper (Figure 4), other negatives were covered with a mask to create unexposed (white) space for notes. The cards of State III RPPC Type A show variations in the width and placement of the mask (Figure 2).

Figure 9. Bell of Marquillies, (A) State III RPPC Type G [23] printed on type F photopaper; (B) State III RPPC Type H; (C) State V, Print. Photo taken by Julius Rath; (D) State V, RPPC Type A; (E) State V, RPPC Type B printed on type B photopaper with overprint; (F) State V, RPPC Type C.

Figure 9. Bell of Marquillies, (A) State III RPPC Type G [23] printed on type F photopaper; (B) State III RPPC Type H; (C) State V, Print. Photo taken by Julius Rath; (D) State V, RPPC Type A; (E) State V, RPPC Type B printed on type B photopaper with overprint; (F) State V, RPPC Type C.

Another example can be documented for a State III image (compare Figure 7B with Figure 7C), which led to subsequent masking (Figure 7D). Unlike in the previous example, however, the three production versions of the negative are printed on at least three different photopaper stock, indicating at least three different print events (otherwise the same paper would have been used for the variations).

Figure 10. Bell of Marquillies, State V. (A) RPPC Type F; (B) RPPC Type G. The scratched-in text reads “Franz. Glocke in Marquillis” [sic]; (C) RPPC Type H printed on type G photopaper.

Figure 10. Bell of Marquillies, State V. (A) RPPC Type F; (B) RPPC Type G. The scratched-in text reads “Franz. Glocke in Marquillis” [sic]; (C) RPPC Type H printed on type G photopaper.

5.2. Reproduction in Newspapers

These real photo postcards, sent to family and friends, also made their way into the hands of journalists and newspaper publishers, either sent directly or passed on by relatives. While numerous papers commented on the bell and its inscription [61], some also reproduced an image of the bell. A copy of the State III Type C card was turned into a black-and-white woodcut for use in several newspapers. That image is on record for German, Austrian and American German-language newspapers, such as the Neue Zeitung (Vienna) of 29 August 1915 [65], Deggendorfer Donaubote of 3 September (Figure 14A) [66], and the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold of 9 December 1915 (Figure 14B) [67]. Since the cliché used in all papers is the same, with the U.S. publication significantly later than the German and Austrian ones, it can be surmised that this illustration was an electrotyped cliché sent through the postal system.

5.3. Printed Postcards

Images with prospects of high demand were acquired by postcard publishers and formally printed in Germany. Printed postcards with images of the church bell of Marquillies were issued by the German card publishers listed in Table 2. It must be noted that none of these were major German postcard publishers. What they have in common, however, is that all are located in the ‘catchments’ of the units making up the 13th and 14th Divisions of the VIIth corps operating in the area. It would thus appear that the photographers sent their images to publishers in the communities they hailed from. Similar observations were made about postcards showing motifs of the church Sainte-Geneviève hosting the bell under discussion [59] and of the damaged church in nearby Illies [68].

Figure 11. Bell of Marquillies. Printed postcards. (A) State III PrPC Type A; (B) State V, PrPC Type A; (C) State V, PrPC. Type B; (postmarked 11-3-1917); (D) State V, PrPC Type C; (E) State V, PrPC Type D; (F) State V, PrPC Type E.

Figure 11. Bell of Marquillies. Printed postcards. (A) State III PrPC Type A; (B) State V, PrPC Type A; (C) State V, PrPC. Type B; (postmarked 11-3-1917); (D) State V, PrPC Type C; (E) State V, PrPC Type D; (F) State V, PrPC Type E.

Figure 12. Bell of Marquillies. (A) State V, PrPC Type G; (B) State V, PrPC Type F.

Figure 12. Bell of Marquillies. (A) State V, PrPC Type G; (B) State V, PrPC Type F.

Figure 13. The captured church bell of Marquillies prior to 22 September 1915 with a self-portrait of Julius Rath as reproduced in a German publication [69].

Figure 13. The captured church bell of Marquillies prior to 22 September 1915 with a self-portrait of Julius Rath as reproduced in a German publication [69].

Figure 14. The captured church bell of Marquillies. German soldier applying the last inscription. (A) Print of photo by Julius Rath, September 1915; (B) Published as a postcard by Friedr. Wilhelm Ruhfus publishers in Dortmund.

Figure 14. The captured church bell of Marquillies. German soldier applying the last inscription. (A) Print of photo by Julius Rath, September 1915; (B) Published as a postcard by Friedr. Wilhelm Ruhfus publishers in Dortmund.

The printed cards allowed the addition of explanatory, legible text in small lettering, which was not possible on real photo postcards printed at the front (Table 3).

An example of the production sequence can be gleaned from postcards PrPC A, printed by Postkarten Verlag August Mallmann (Figure 10B), and PrPC B, printed by Kunstverlag “Iris” (Figure 10B), both publishers in Recklinghausen (North-Rhine Westphalia). The original for these cards is the image State V type D (Figure 8D). One such card was acquired by Mallmann and converted into the printed version. By pure chance, we have in hand the print template, with the future postcard text set out in pencil on the verso side (Figure 15). The print template also shows that the pencil text “Postkarten Verlag August Mallmann, Recklinghausen” was struck out in black ink, and substituted in different handwriting by “Kunstverlag “Iris”, Recklinghausen, Börsterweg 45.”; also struck out was part of Mallmann’s code ‘A.M. and substituted in black ink by ‘K.I.” This accounts for the publication of the same image, with the same text on the recto side (albeit set in different types) by two publishers.

Table 2. Postcard publishers on record. All cards are State V. Figures with the prefix ‘A or B’ refer to images reproduced in the Appendix.

Type	Publishers	Code	Remarks	Recto	Verso
PrPC A	Postkarten Verlag August Mallmann, Recklinghausen	A.M. 182/B	part of series ‘Weltkrieg 1914/16’	Figure 10B	Figure A3b
PrPC B	Kunstverlag “Iris”, Recklinghausen	K.I. 182/B	part of series ‘Weltkrieg 1914/16’ produced as a Feldpost Karte	Figure 10C	Figure A3a
PrPC D	Verlag Heinrich Dörr, Photograph, Barmen-R	Serie 1-1 H.D.		Figure 10E	Figure A3c
PrPC F	Imprimerie Lanoé, Annoeullin			Figure 12A	Figure A3e
	Friedrich Wilhelm Ruhfus, Dortmund			Figure 13B

Table 2. Postcard publishers on record. All cards are State V. Figures with the prefix ‘A or B’ refer to images reproduced in the Appendix.

Type	Publishers	Code	Remarks	Recto	Verso
PrPC A	Postkarten Verlag August Mallmann, Recklinghausen	A.M. 182/B	part of series ‘Weltkrieg 1914/16’	Figure 10B	Figure A3b
PrPC B	Kunstverlag “Iris”, Recklinghausen	K.I. 182/B	part of series ‘Weltkrieg 1914/16’ produced as a Feldpost Karte	Figure 10C	Figure A3a
PrPC D	Verlag Heinrich Dörr, Photograph, Barmen-R	Serie 1-1 H.D.		Figure 10E	Figure A3c
PrPC F	Imprimerie Lanoé, Annoeullin			Figure 12A	Figure A3e
	Friedrich Wilhelm Ruhfus, Dortmund			Figure 13B

Figure 15. The captured church bell of Marquillies as reproduced in newspapers. (A) Deggendorfer Donaubote of 3 September 1915 [66]—(B) Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold of 9 December 1915, a German-language newspaper published in Grand Island, Nebraska [67]—(C) contemporary real photo postcard that served as the template (see Figure 7C).

Figure 15. The captured church bell of Marquillies as reproduced in newspapers. (A) Deggendorfer Donaubote of 3 September 1915 [66]—(B) Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold of 9 December 1915, a German-language newspaper published in Grand Island, Nebraska [67]—(C) contemporary real photo postcard that served as the template (see Figure 7C).

The first card to be published was one of State III (Figure 10A) followed by five different issues of State V. Intriguingly, these are all the same image, using a negative already used for real photo postcards (Figure 8C) and taken by Julius Rath himself. Compare Figure 7B with Figure 12, and Figure 13A with Figure 13B.

The first of these was published by the Postkarten Verlag August Mallmann, Recklinghausen (Figure 10A), who also published at least one other view of Marquillies, that of the interior of Sainte-Geneviève (production code AM 183/B). Rath’s photograph of the farrier pretending to engrave the text (Figure 13A) was printed as a postcard (with the imprint ‘Feldpostkarte’) by the publisher Friedrich Wilhelm Ruhfus in Dortmund (Figure 13B). Ruhfus also published another postcard, showing the ‘Velsen-Keller’ (Felsen Keller) Restaurant (public house) in Marquillies. It can be surmised that image was also supplied by Rath. All three publishers of Rath’s photographs are either based in Dortmund (Rath’s usual place of residence) [60], or in two towns, both less than 40 km away.

In addition to the cards produced by German publishers, there is one of the State V cards of French production, printed after the return of the bell (Figure 10E). As this is the same image as that of the German cards, it appears that the French publisher had access to a clean photographic print (or an RPPC) for his cliché. This card, produced by the printery Lanoé in Annoeullin (Département du Nord), carries the text “The historic bell of Marquillies which predicted the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. Kidnapped to Germany by the Krauts and returned to us, where it will sound the happy deliverance of our dear provinces and of the parish of Marquilles” (Figure 12B). This card appears to be the last formal production.

5.4. Dating Photographs and Quantifying Photographers

Marquillies was occupied by German forces in early September 1914 and remained in German hands until the Hundred Days Offensive of August 1918 [59]. The photographs can be dated both through the inscriptions and the timing of the bell’s removal from the church as a war trophy. As noted, only States III and V of the bell (Table 1) have been reproduced on postcards. Going by the inscriptions, the images of State III must have been taken between 22 June and 3 August 1915, while the images of State V must have been taken between 26 August 1915 and 30 May 1916. After the bell was removed to Berlin as a war trophy (in contravention of the revised Hague Convention of 1907), it was exhibited in the courtyard of the German Armory in Berlin (Figure 16A), at which time it carried the inscriptions of State VI (but of which no photographs seem to exist that were taken in Marquillies) [61].

Figure 16. Bell of Marquillies. Print template for printed postcard PrPC Type A. (A) original print of a State V type D (Figure 8D) printed on postcard type B photopaper. (B) verso side with printing instructions.

Figure 16. Bell of Marquillies. Print template for printed postcard PrPC Type A. (A) original print of a State V type D (Figure 8D) printed on postcard type B photopaper. (B) verso side with printing instructions.

We have evidence for seven different negatives of State III and six different negatives of State V, two of which were more or less of a documentary nature (Figure 12 and Figure 13). The handwriting on the labeled State III negatives differs (Figure 3A,B,E), demonstrating that at least three photographers were involved. As all State III images, bar one image that shows the inscription as a close-up and from a different angle (Figure 8B), show the bell in its entirety, we can assume six different photographers at work. These would have been present in the six-week window between Stages III and IV. The close-up image shows a distinct darkening around the words “und am” in column A (Figure 8B), which appears to be wetting to clean the letters, possibly of pigeon droppings, and make them more readable. The same unique darkening can be observed on a second image (Figure 7A) but not on any of the others, suggesting that these two images were taken by the same photographer on the same occasion.

Likewise, the inscriptions and text on the State V negatives also demonstrate at least three different photographers (Figure 3C,D and Figure 9C). At least three of the un-labeled State V negatives were taken by Julius Rath’s camera (all type V, Figure 8D, Figure 12 and Figure 13). Given the differences in framing, we can assume that four different photographers took images of the bell’s State V.

It was noted earlier that two of the glass plate negatives with inscriptions contain misspellings of the word ‘Marquillies’. This suggests a lack of familiarity with the town name, suggesting that the photographers in question may have only recently arrived in Marquillies when they took the photographs or may have been merely traveling through.

Table 3. Transcription and translation of the texts on the printed postcards.

	Text on Postcard	Translation
A	Die Glocke von Marquillies|Die Inschrift besagt, daß dieselbe feierlich geläutet werden soll, wenn|Elsaß-Lothringen an Frankreich zurückfallen würde. |Von deutschen Soldaten wurde der untere Text eingemeißelt.	The bell of Marquillies. The inscription states that the bell should be rung in celebration when Alsace-Lorraine returns to France. The text below was engraved by German soldiers.	Figure 10B, Figure 10C
B	Glocke in Marquillies|Je loue le vrai Dieu, j’appelle les fidèles aux offices divins et|j’espère sonner un jour la victoire et le retour à la France|de l’Alsace et la Lorraine|Ich lobe den wahrhaftigen Gott, ich rufe die Gläubigen zu|den kirchlichen Handlungen (zum Gottesdienst) und ich|hoffe eines Tages Sieg zu läuten anläßlich der Wieder-|vereinigung von Elsaß Lothringen mit Frankreich	Bell at Marquillies I praise the true God, I call the faithful to divine offices and I hope one day to ring the bell for victory and the return to France of Alsace and Lorraine. Text of French inscription on top, German translation on bottom	Figure 10E
C	La Cloche historique de Marquillies|Qui a prédi [sic] le retour de l’Alsace-Lorraine à la France. Enlevée en Allemagne par les Boches et ramenée chez nous, où elle sonnera l’heureuse délivrance de nos chères provinces et de la paroisse Marquilles.	The historic bell of Marquillies which predicted the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. Kidnapped to Germany by the Krauts and returned to us, where it will sound the happy deliverance of our dear provinces and of the parish of Marquilles.	Figure 12A
D	Die wegen Ihrer Inschrift rühmlichst bekannte Glocke|von Marquillies	The due to her inscription most famously known bell of Marquillies	Figure 10A

Table 3. Transcription and translation of the texts on the printed postcards.

	Text on Postcard	Translation
A	Die Glocke von Marquillies|Die Inschrift besagt, daß dieselbe feierlich geläutet werden soll, wenn|Elsaß-Lothringen an Frankreich zurückfallen würde. |Von deutschen Soldaten wurde der untere Text eingemeißelt.	The bell of Marquillies. The inscription states that the bell should be rung in celebration when Alsace-Lorraine returns to France. The text below was engraved by German soldiers.	Figure 10B, Figure 10C
B	Glocke in Marquillies|Je loue le vrai Dieu, j’appelle les fidèles aux offices divins et|j’espère sonner un jour la victoire et le retour à la France|de l’Alsace et la Lorraine|Ich lobe den wahrhaftigen Gott, ich rufe die Gläubigen zu|den kirchlichen Handlungen (zum Gottesdienst) und ich|hoffe eines Tages Sieg zu läuten anläßlich der Wieder-|vereinigung von Elsaß Lothringen mit Frankreich	Bell at Marquillies I praise the true God, I call the faithful to divine offices and I hope one day to ring the bell for victory and the return to France of Alsace and Lorraine. Text of French inscription on top, German translation on bottom	Figure 10E
C	La Cloche historique de Marquillies|Qui a prédi [sic] le retour de l’Alsace-Lorraine à la France. Enlevée en Allemagne par les Boches et ramenée chez nous, où elle sonnera l’heureuse délivrance de nos chères provinces et de la paroisse Marquilles.	The historic bell of Marquillies which predicted the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. Kidnapped to Germany by the Krauts and returned to us, where it will sound the happy deliverance of our dear provinces and of the parish of Marquilles.	Figure 12A
D	Die wegen Ihrer Inschrift rühmlichst bekannte Glocke|von Marquillies	The due to her inscription most famously known bell of Marquillies	Figure 10A

Figure 17. Bell of Marquillies. (A) as exhibited in the courtyard of the Zeughaus in Berlin, July 1917 [70]. (B) following repatriation, erected on a temporary mounting in the churchyard next to the cemetery [71].

Figure 17. Bell of Marquillies. (A) as exhibited in the courtyard of the Zeughaus in Berlin, July 1917 [70]. (B) following repatriation, erected on a temporary mounting in the churchyard next to the cemetery [71].

The majority of the photographs, although printed on postcard paper stock, are uncirculated. While many carry text on the verso side, only some of these texts are dated. Consequently, we are largely uninformed about the length and duration of the production runs. The handwritten texts on the verso side commonly reference the context of the bell very similar to the text reproduced in Figure 11B. Clearly, the bell was a major attraction for visitors to the German supply base.

Finally, as discussed, we have in hand three examples of images printed from the same State III glass plate negative with different masking (Figure 7B–D) but, importantly, on different photopaper stock. At the time of writing, there are no data on the availability of photopaper supplies at the German front. We can safely assume three sources: photopaper sent from home by family and friends, photopaper ordered directly from German suppliers and photopaper purchased while on furlough in the nearest major town, which in the case of Marquillies would have been Lille.

6. Conclusions

Most publications about World War I rely on official imagery, primarily because such images tend to exist in multiple copies and are usually readily and publicly accessible in museums, libraries, and national archives. This created an almost curated form of public narrative. While a body of private, that is ‘unofficial’, imagery exists, it is not only fragmented and widely dispersed, commonly held in private family or collector hands, but it is also ridden with the problems of quantity (as prints are commonly one-offs) and identification of place and time. Moreover, the nature of private photography during World War I has not been formally explored. The existence of private images, as well as public advertisements by camera manufacturers and photo houses clearly discredits the notion that private photography was prohibited. There is a need to be more nuanced and differentiate between private photography at the frontline, showing installations and the effects of warfare; private photography of locales, settings, and events at forward bases, marshaling and recuperation areas behind, but near, the frontline; and private photography during furlough.

At present, comparatively little is known about the extent and nature of private photography at and near the frontline of the Western Front during World War I. Much of the assumption was that the imagery was taken for private consumption by family, relatives, and friends. Yet as this study has shown, some images were reproduced in a larger quantity, albeit presumably more or less on demand, behind the frontline and during the events of the war.

The survey of photographic images of the bell of Marquillies printed on postcard stock has shown that a range of private photographers took these images and did so over a considerable period. The number of photographers that can be deduced from the images indicates that both private photography and the development of photographic plates in forward bases, marshaling and recuperation areas were permitted, or at least left unregulated, by German military authorities, which differs from the approach taken by Allied forces.

Despite its obvious propaganda value and ‘fame’, at least since the newspaper publications of August and September 1915, there is no indication that the bell was ever photographed by official war photographers or journalists for any of the German pictorial magazines. It was left to the initiative of individual photographic amateurs to take images and produce them for distribution at Marquillies and similar advance bases and marshaling yards. Collectively, the images of the bell in its various stages of inscription function as historic evidence that the inscription of the bell evolved over time and that the inscriptions were created by different hands (Figure 2), adding detail that would otherwise not have been available.

This observation has implications for the pictorial record of the life of German soldiers on the Western Front. On the one hand, collectively these images will represent the photographers’ experiences and impressions, unfiltered by German political interests and military censors. On the other hand, the choice of subject matter in general, and its specific framing in particular, will be modulated by the photographer’s exposure to the war and its effects. Thus, they have the potential to represent a personal, and more direct, view of wartime experiences than that shown in the official record. One wonders, how many other images were taken by the photographers of the bell photos reproduced in this paper. Did they produce other ‘souvenir images’ or only images for private and family consumption? Did they only photograph sites and locales, or did they (also) take portraits of fellow soldiers on a semi-commercial basis? Future research in that conceptual space may be fruitful.

The fact that the postcard prints were produced by means of contact printing reduced the need for enlargers and thus ensured ease of production, even in make-shift darkrooms. This set-up also allowed for small-scale, almost on-demand production of souvenirs that could be gifted, sold, or bartered for goods that were in short supply at or near the front.

An anonymous reviewer noted that these images can also be seen as a form of trench art. Certainly, the demand for souvenirs was high, especially in the early period, during 1914 and early 1915, when the ‘Great War’ was an, albeit potentially deadly ‘Boy’s Own Adventure’ fueled by over-confidence and patriotism. These souvenirs comprised actual battlefield ‘loot’, trench art created from metal and wood while at or near the front and souvenirs created for consumption [72,73,74]. The photographic images of the bell of Marquillies do not clearly belong to the category of souvenirs created for consumption, but they possess, by virtue of the motif, an additional patriotic and thus memorable element. At present, discussions of the material culture of trench art have not considered private photographs as expressions of souvenir production [72,73,74], possibly because small-scale commercial production at the front has not been documented so far. This certainly opens a field for further inquiry.

The mode of production and distribution poses problems for cultural heritage research, as these images primarily survive in a dispersed form. There are, by and large, no full collections of images taken by one photographer, representing that individual’s entire photographic record. Rather, the images were initially distributed in personal and family photo albums, both of the relatives of the photographers or fellow soldiers at the front. Methodologically, these albums represent a melange of images, in most cases drawn from the productions of multiple photographers but unified by the individual who acquired them.

As the personal experiences of the ‘Great War’ receded into the past and its participants died, many such albums were discarded. Very few ended up in archival collections in public hands. The majority were thrown out or sold in estate sales, to be acquired by antiquarian dealers who broke them up and sold off the images individually to maximize returns. It is these images that this study has drawn on. Some of these images are readily recognizable, such as those of the bell of Marquillies. Numerous others merely show gun positions, bomb craters, or people with equipment. Unless handwritten identifying information exists on the verso of the cards, these images, once detached from an album or other provenance, have lost their evidentiary significance.

Clearly, this paper is only a first exploration of the private image production behind the frontlines. It is a case study designed to highlight the potential and provide a starting point for further enquiry. It cannot be seen as representative of all German forward bases, marshaling and recuperation areas, nor can it be seen as representative of the conditions through the duration of the war. In fact, it can be safely assumed that the conditions early in the war, as discussed in this paper, would be materially different from the conditions, say, in late 1917 or early 1918—both in terms of ready access to photosensitive materials (photo plates/film, photo paper and developer chemicals) and the mental framework of the photographer (and the resulting image motifs).