This is a lovely set of cards showing life in Serbia, ten years before it was swept into the First World War.
There are six cards, which are :
- Belgrade. La Place de L`Universitie [Belgrade University]
- Fileuse [spinner]
- L`egrenage du ble [threshing wheat]
- L`ancienne route de Trajan aux portes de fer [Emperor Trajan`s road, and iron gates]
- La Poste Rurale [a country postman]
- Ruine Golubac pres Samendria [Golubac Fortress, near Semendria - now called Smederevo]
You may be surprised to hear that the University of Belgrade was founded in 1808 as a school, then in 1838 it merged with other departments to become a university. As one of the most recognisable buildings in the area, it found itself a target, and was regularly bombed in the First World War.
The cards measure 111 x 70 m/m, and they were issued in five countries, namely ;
- Belgium - as "Vues de Serbie"
- France - as "Vues de Serbie"
- Germany - as "Bilder aus Serbien"
- Italy - as "Vedute di Serbia"
- The Netherlands - as "Uit Servie"
The French version is quite hard to find, but the most sought after of all, and the most expensive, is the one from the Netherlands. Their wording is odd too, for it translates as "from" Serbia rather than "views" or "pictures" thereof.