The next major development was in seventeenth century France, where urban farmers grew fruit, vegetables, and flowers, all together on small communal plots. These growers were called `maraîchers`, or, literally translated, `urban farmers`.
The idea of sharing a garden continued right through the First and Second World Wars, and they became known as `Jardins Partage", which means `garden sharing`.
After the Second World War most had disappeared, and it took quite a while to make new ones, but today there are over a thousand small communal gardens in Paris alone.
I know there is a better name for this set but have neither found it or fathomed it out yet. The cards are listed below, or the starting of a list, anyway, though this card of Paris is slightly different and is not titled the same way - despite which it does seem to be included in the grouping by every collector I have contacted.
I am also not entirely sure if what follows is one set or several, which is why I have used the full title and not just the place name - however they do all have a small inset somewhere on the front, ornate gilded borders (albeit in different styles), and very similar backs. There are also other map cards, which are more brightly coloured, but they do not belong to this set.
Another curious thing is that you can find some of the same fronts with postcard backs, at first I thought this only applied to the Colonies cards, but then I found a Departements card with a postcard back too.
Anyway if you have others not listed, do let us know....
So far I know of :
- Les Colonies Francaises - Cochinchine - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Comptoirs Loges Factoreries des Indes - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises - des Antilles - (text) (postcard)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Guadeloupe Marie-Galante (text) (postcard)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Guyane - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Madagascar (Nord) - (postcard)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Martinique - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Sphere d`Influence du Sahara et des Oasis Algeriennes - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises - St.Pierre & Miquelon, St.Paul, Kerguelen (postcard)
- Les Colonies Francaises - Tonkin - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises Afrique - Cote d`Ivoire - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises Afrique - Haut Senegal & Niger - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises Afrique - Mauretanie - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises Afrique - Senegal - (text)
- Les Colonies Francaises Afrique - province des Somali - (text)
- Les Departements - Ain - (text)
- Les Departements - Alger - (text)
- Les Departements - Ardeche - (text)
- Les Departements - Ariege - (text)
- Les Departements - Aube - (text)
- Les Departements - Aveyron - (text)
- Les Departements - Bouches-du-Rhone - (text)
- Les Departements - Calvados - (text)
- Les Departements - Constantine - (text)
- Les Departements - Corse - (text)
- Les Departements - Deux-Sevres - (text)
- Les Departements - Gers - (text)
- Les Departements - Hautes-Alpes - (text)
- Les Departements - Haut Saone
- Les Departements - Herault - (text)
- Les Departements - Hte Vienne - (text)
- Les Departements - Ille-et-Vilaine - (text)
- Les Departements - Indre - (text)
- Les Departements - Indre et Loire - (text)
- Les Departements - Le Cantal - (text)
- Les Departements - Loire - text)
- Les Departements - Loiret - (text) (postcard)
- Les Departements - Manche - (text)
- Les Departements - Meurthe et Moselle - (text)
- Les Departements - Oran - (text)
- Les Departements - Orne - (text)
- Les Departements - Puy-de-Dome (text)
- Les Departements - Pyrenees Orientales - (text)
- Les Departements - Rhone - (text)
- Les Departements - Savoie - (text)
- Les Departements - Seine & Marne - (text)
- Les Departements - Vaucluse (text)
- Les Departements - Vosges (text)
- Les Protectorats Francaises - Regence de Tunis (text)