Lot #773: Vintage pre-1914 French Postcard - "Neuf-Berquin (Nord)- L'Eglise" - St. Giles Church - "Imprimerie du Journal de Merville" - "Vanished View" WWI

French "Carte Postale" showing a Church with caption "Neuf-Berquin (Nord)- L'Eglise" published by "Imprimerie du Journal de Merville, A. Drieux, 11, rue Croise". This Neuf-Berquin card is a poignant piece of topographical and military history, originating from the Nord department of northern France. While it appears as a standard architectural "view card," its origin in the Merville district places it at the center of one of the most contested landscapes of the early 20th century. The publisher, A. Drieux, was the printer for the local newspaper in Merville, located just a few kilometers from Neuf-Berquin. Unlike the mass-produced cards from Paris or Germany, this was a "hyper-local" print. These cards were often sold at the village tabac or the local post office to residents and visitors. The Address "11, rue Croise" in Merville was the heart of the town's small printing industry. This postcard is a Collotype (a fine-grained, ink-based process that mimics a photograph). The local printers in Merville favored the collotype for its crisp, sepia-toned detail. The church shown on this card is Saint-Gilles (St. Giles Church), the spiritual center of the village of Neuf-Berquin. It is a classic example of the brick-and-stone religious architecture typical of French Flanders. This card ly serves as a "pre-war" or "reconstruction" record of a "Vanished View" . Neuf-Berquin was almost entirely leveled during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918. The church depicted here with the tall, ornate spire is a pre-1914 view. (The bombarded church was rebuilt in the 1920s in a more simplified modern style.) Neuf-Berquin sat right in the path of the German spring offensive. For British, Canadian, and Australian troops stationed in this sector, postcards like this were the only way to show their families "the quiet village" before the shelling began. The Nord (59) department was the industrial powerhouse of France, but for collectors, it is primarily associated with the Western Front. Dimensions: 9 mm x 14 mm Pickup category timeslot {A}