I couldn’t resist this card when it came up on eBay, partly because I have ancestors from Seaford, Sussex but mainly for the novelty value of the size of the thing. The actual size is 292mm x 82mm, which is about the same height of a normal postcard but over twice the width.
If you click on the image you can have a look in detail, but the print quality is a little disappointing to be honest. I don’t know whether that is because of the size or just a poor quality printing process. It is clear enough to make out some of the buildings in the town on the right-hand side, but not much detail of the people strolling along the seafront on the left-hand side.
I have had a look on Google Street View, but I haven’t been able to find exactly the same viewpoint. It looks like a lot of the buildings along the Esplanade have either been demolished and rebuilt or heavily altered.
I know virtually nothing about the publisher of the card, or when it was published. It has not been used and the back of the card names it as a PANORAMICARD. Down the left-hand side of the back is the name of J.B. Armstrong, 52 High St., Seaford. As I have seen other Panoramicards from different parts of the country I assume that J.B. Armstrong was the person who commissioned this particular Panoramicard, rather than the actual publisher.
Love your blog and love the postcards – this one is great! I started picking up old postcards myself just this year – no particular theme – just ones that call out to me. I usually get mine from antique stores, never thought to look on eBay, duh, don’t know what I was thinking!
Thanks for your kind words, glad you are enjoying my blog. I do have some core postcard collections but most of mine now are ones that appeal to me from the local area. Ebay is a great place to find postcards, and a great place just to browse through the search results.