It's been a couple of years since I last updated this site, which has now been around for 16 years. After 38 years of running a business as my day job, I've just recently become "semi-retired", meaning that I should finally have some more time to devote to updating this website.

Here's the first update, with hopefully more to come. This 1882 J.C. Wilson & Co. cover was used from Montreal on August 8, 1882 to Collingwood Ontario, with a Collingwood August 9 1882 cancel on the reverse.

An example of a WLS-P03 Type II postcard has been added showing business use by The London Daily News newspaper on June 2, 1898.

A postally unused copy of a J.C. Wilson WLS-P05 Remember The Maine patriotic postcard has been added. The card was printed for by A.A. Palmer, Bookseller and Stationer, 1009 St. Catharine Street, Montreal for their business used. The WLS-P07 Type I and Type II pages have also been updated.

The page listing patriotic postcards used by business and other enterprises has been updated to the current web site style. It is a work in progress, with more content to be added.

A business use of the WLS-P08 Type I Maple Leaf For Ever patriotic postcard has been added. The card was mailed from Sackville, NB, with a Dec 15 1899 split ring cancel, to Moncton NB, by the Post Printing Co., acknowledging payment for a subscription to the Sackville Post until December 1900.

A copy of the Hotel Carslake use of the WLS-E12 “The Queen” design has been added. As is consistent with other examples found of this business use, the cover is the E-3 variety, with the uncoloured beaver on the front and song back 16, with the lyrics of “God Save the Queen” on the back. This example has been used from Montreal, with a Montreal flag cancel dated December 22, 1900. The back bears a December 24 receiver from the destination of Haydenville, Mass. USA.

I’ve also updated the WLS-E11 “Tattered Flag” page to the current format.

I’ve update the WLS-P06 Type I page to the current site format, and added a number of business use examples.

A very nice copy of WLS-P01 has been added, postally used with a 1¢ Jubilee stamp with a Halifax squared circle postmark dated July 22, 1897, about a month after the first appearance of this J.C. Wilson postcard design. What makes this more interesting is the use of the card as a notification that W.B. Day would be visiting a potential customer of W. & C. Silver of Halifax, with a full range of their dry goods, mantles and clothing four days hence.

This example of a WLS-P09 Type I “Soldiers of the Queen” design has been used for business use by J.J. Turner & Sons, Sail, Tent, Awning & Flag M’f’rs of Peterborough, Ontario. The Boer War-themed pioneer patriotic postcard was postmarked with a Peterborough July 11, 1901 CDS cancel on the front, and bears a Lindsay, Ontario squared circle cancel of the same date on the reverse.

This is not the only example of a J.C. Wilson patriotic used by J.J. Turner & Sons for their business. A copy of a WLS-P10 Soldiers of the Queen Redesign card was sold by auction in June 1987 by Jim Hennok. That card was postmarked July 20, 1901, 9 days after this card was used.

I’ve also converted the WLS-P09 Type 1 postcard listings to the current site format and added additional material.

This J.C. Wilson business cover was mailed on May 8, 1903 to Kilgour Bros of Toronto with a 2¢ Provisonal (a 3¢ QV Leaf stamp surcharged with a “2 CENTS” overprint).

This example of a J.C. Wilson business cover has been used from Montreal to E.B. Eddy Co. Ltd. of Hull, Quebec on May 7, 1897, with a 3¢ Small Queen stamp cancelled with a Montreal B Flag cancel. It could have contained correspondence regarding Wilson’s purchasing of paper from E.B. Eddy. The E. B. Eddy Company was a Canadian pulp and paper company at that time. It was originally incorporated in 1886 as The E. B. Eddy Manufacturing Company with Ezra Butler Eddy as its president. Eddy had begun business in 1854 making and selling wooden matches out of his home in Hull, Quebec. The company expanded into pulp and paper and in 1891, it was renamed to the E. B. Eddy Company.

This example of a WLS-P02 J.C. Wilson postcard has been used by G.H. Lanigan, dealer in paper & stationery, bookbinder and printer, of 92 King Street West of Hamilton, Ontario.

I’ve been recently updating a number of the site’s pages to the most recent format, starting with the patriotic postcard section, and will continue working through with these updates.

This WLS-E08 Type II cover has been overprinted by L.H. Betts & Co. of Wallace, Nova Scotia, for business use. What makes this cover distinct is that reverse, which carries Song Back 11, “The Land of the Maple”, lacks the printer’s attribution normally found on the standard song back printing. As part of this update, I have updated and expanded the page showing WLS-E08.

One of the better known business use covers from the J.C. Wilson patriotics series is the use by Hotel Carslake of the WLS-E12 “God Save the Queen” patriotic cover. This particular cover comes with the Hotel Carlake letterhead enclosed with the envelope when it was mailed from Montreal on November 9, 1900 to Afton, New York, USA.

This Rule Britannia WLS-P03 Type II design postcard, a late use (September 26, 1906 South Oshawa broken circle cancel) bearing a 2¢ Edward VII stamp that may originally have been an imperforate pair cut apart from the adjoining stamp (catalog number 90a Type II, shown by the wide gutter to the top of the card, with a partial carmine line as if from the adjacent stamp), has been mailed to Scotland via New York. The reverse of the card, shown here, depicts the Presbyterian Church, Oshawa, with a printed date line.

One of the less common variations of J.C. Wilson & Company’s patriotic postcard printings that occurs across the range of different designs is a variation know as the “Business Card” printings. This variation omits the text “Private Post Card” and the stamp box & associated text that commonly occurs on the normal card printings (with the exception of WLS-P01).

This printing variation allowed businesses the opportunity to overprint the card face with their own advertisements without interference from the postally required printed text. A selection of this postcard variation has been added to the site.

This WLS-P01 Type I card has been used for business use by J.L. Peters of Digby, N.S., and has a full card ad on the reverse of the card, as well as the text shown here on the card front. While not postally used, the card is from the first of J.C. Wilson’s series of patriotic postcards, and is quite rare.

This J.C. Wilson & Co. pioneer patriotic postcard was used by G.B. Herrett, Manufacturers’ Agent, of Fredericton, N.B., on April 21, 1900. The card design is the Maple Leaf For Ever, Patria Amamus design designated as WLS-P08 Type I. The card bearing a QV 1¢ Numeral stamp with a Fredericton April 21, 1900 CDS cancel, mailed to Messrs. Humphreys & Gates, Petitcodiac, N.B.

Bell, King & McLaren of Montreal, distributors of, among other things, strawberries, made use, on May 31, 1898, of a J.C. Wilson patriotic postcard, WLS-P06 Type I, Anglo-Saxon design, to advertise the availability of Maryland strawberries due on June 2nd.

I’ve reinstated the page of foreign use J.C. Wilson postcards in today’s update, along with a series of tweaks of various other pages within the site (which I will continue to do without specific reference in this section).