Mostly Antique MUSKELLUNGE Post Cards Volume One: A Wonderful Pictorial History Hardcover – November 15, 2023

Being a muskellunge historian, collecting muskie post cards became a natural thing for me to do as a lot of muskie fishing’s early history is found only in that way. Post cards became a critical part of the foundation for my book(s) A Compendium of Muskie Angling History, the two-volume “encyclopedic” Revised, Expanded and Updated 3rd Edition of which was published in 2007. This current books card photos date from the late 1800’s to Present. To say I have become obsessive about this post card collecting would be an understatement! There will be over 700 muskellunge post cards in this book, which has been nearly eight years in coming to fruition. In addition, I have already amassed another 180 muskellunge post card and several hundred other muskellunge related post cards, which will contribute to a follow-up Volume II of this book in the near future! However, the focus of this book will be just those post cards that contain muskies, as that alone will make this book fairly large. Many photos became generic and were printed with several different captions for various locations, resorts, towns and states. I will not print all of them, but will indicate the number of different versions I have found for those. To be clear, not all of my collection are original cards and a few originals will not be reproduced for various reasons. Some of these cards are photocopies, which makes dating them difficult except via clothing and fishing tackle if present. I will group them by my best estimate of date if unknown. Some post card photos are dated or datable but weren’t printed until much later and those will be placed by photo dating. Some are not real clear, but I will include those that are reasonably viewable so that you may get an appreciation for just how many different muskie post cards I have found that have been printed over the past 124+ years…and I still find more new ones almost every week or two! It is hoped that the publication of this book will trigger the discovery or exposure of yet many more different muskie post cards. Due to space constraints I have downsized some of them from their original size and oversized others where space permitted. Card publishers/photographers are stated where known. One of my most pleasant surprises has been the number of early color post cards which were first available in full color in 1893. Or perhaps it would be better stated “colorized” post cards, since true color or “Photo Chrome” post cards didn’t come along until 1939. As lithography processes advanced colors became better and when some post card stock changed to linen in 1930, it allowed the use of bright printing dyes for even brighter cards colors. The problem with the linen cards is in reproduction, as in this book, as reproduction quality, despite the brighter dyes, leaves much to be desired. The earlier colorized cards reproduce much better as will be seen within the pages of this book. Some cards were also tinted in various colors, all or partially, to enhance their appearance or to get attention. Read more