Victorian Halloween Cards

Is there really anybody out there who doesn't like Halloween?

There must be someone, but who or whom?

I suppose that the religious far right would have a field day whipping themselves into holy frenzies of protest if they thought about it. You might think that folks of the Victorian era would be naturals for pilgrim prudery.

And you'd be wrong.

  

I come from a family of pack rats. When I was little during the 1950's, members of my family were still saving string and aluminium foil - habits of the Depression and WWII.  Around fifty years later, after my father passed, we opened his safe. There in front of the (worthless) family insurance policies were several little irregular balls covered in Christmas wrap. My stepmother and my brother proceeded to open one of the balls to see what they were. I didn't have to look. I knew right away - they were pieces of coal left by Santa Claus in my Christmas' stocking.

I always seem to get in on the last of things. I worked in the bookstore business just before the corporations took over. I worked in film sales and distribution just as the corporations were starting to take over and were putting lawyer-accountants in charge. The world of Coops and Organic Foods and local movements were next, great fun before the corporations and money hungry chose to market clean, whole food as a luxury item. Next it was a video store just as DVDs were taking over only to have Netflix and now internet delivery scoop up even the grinchly-ish crumb.

Now, take the person who could survive all that, and mix in the pack rat gene. A potential hoarder was born. From childhood on, my collections have always required a bit of space. I started small with comic books. (God, I wish I had those today ...  my father made me throw them out). Over the years there have been books (I had my own private library). There were 16mm and 35mm films and related ephemera. Then there was Betamax, VHS, the conversion into Laser Disc, the conversion into DVD. My music library exists in 78 rpm records, 45 rpms, 33 1/3 rpms, CDs, and now MP3s.

I got into computers just as my Commodore64C was about to become obsolete as that product war settled into Apple/Mac vs IBM. I loved the message boards, sending "packets" to linked discussion groups. The start of the internet, the fall from grace as the music industry started muscling their way in and opened the doors for corporations and money grubbers to acquire more wealth. Along the way, I collected graphics. Lots of them. And they don't take up much space as jpegs.

Which is how I got these Halloween greeting cards over the years. I'll be posting more Halloween graphics each day until November 1st. All graphics (including the photos in the previous thread) are clickable for enlargements - but I haven't figured out how to have them open in their own windows, so be warned.