Edgar Schmidt

The German publishing firm Edgar Schmidt was founded in Dresden in January 1897.

It was located at the following addresses: Schlossstrasse, 28, Dresden (1898), Marschallstrasse, 12-14, Dresden (1903). It had a branch in Budapest (Térez-koerut 5). After being renamed "Edgar Schmidt" in 1907 to the company "Postkarte GmbH", it was located in Dresden at Schandauerstrasse, 34. It continued its activities again as "Edgar Schmidt" at Carlowitzstrasse, 29 (1913).

In 1907, the company had 6 offset printing presses and 20 monogramming presses with a staff of 70 people.

The Edgar Schmidt trademark was a lion resting on a shield with the initials ESD inscribed on it.

On the front side of the postcards published by the company there was also a direct indication of the publisher: Edgar Schmidt, Dresden (or Dresden - Budapest).

Edgar Schmidt. Edgar Schmidt Koenigsberg 1898 — Königsberg, Paradeplatz. Publisher: Edgar Schmidt. Series: 1574. Postmarked on August 10, 1898. On the front of the postcard there is an indication of the publisher: Edgar Schmidt, Dresden, printed along the left edge of the postcard.

The Edgar Schmidt company began its activity by printing postcards of cities in Germany and Austria-Hungary using the phototype method . Then it switched to printing halftone (autochrome) and chromolithographic greeting cards and reproductions of paintings.

Edgar Schmidt. Edgar Schmidt Koenigsberg 1903 — Königsberg, Exchange. Publisher "Edgar Schmidt". Postmarked on May 22, 1903. On the front side of the postcard, under the image, there is an indication of the publisher "Edgar Schmidt, Dresden - Budapest"

As you might guess, the founder of the company was Edgar Schmidt himself. By 1906, the owner of the company was Karl Koehler. In August 1906, the business passed into the hands of London entrepreneur Berhard Fell. A year later, the company was renamed Postkarte GmbH, and Fell acquired a partner, Martin Paul Friedlaender. Friedlaender, to whom Fell owed 20,000 marks, took over as executive director. Postcards with the inscription Postkarte GmbH or other signs that allow them to be identified in this way have not yet been found. Probably, the activity of Postkarte GmbH was short-lived. It was replaced again by a company with the same name Edgar Schmidt - a small-circulation publisher of offset products.

Schmidt certainly had his own printing house in the early stages of his career, which allowed him to print postcards using the phototype method. It is not entirely clear what happened next. It is possible that the print runs were printed in third-party printing houses.

It can also be stated that until 1900, Edgar Schmidt was a distributor of postcards published by the Berlin company NPG.

(based on materials from The Postcard Album. www.tpa-project.info )