In pictures: Maistre postcards of the 1930s

The Maistre dynasty of printers, publishers and stationers, first recorded in 1893, has not been sufficiently researched so far.

Calisto (also Calixto) Maistre established his business in Valletta and had a printing press in 114, 115, 116, Strada Teatro (the official address of the Manoel Theatre).

Satirical postcard by Maistre – Definitions

Postcard with patriotic verses, 1930s, by Maistre

Calisto’s successors ran a printing press in South Street and a popular stationery in 138, Britannia, later 162, Melita, Street. But the imprints on the backs of postcards show different addresses, all in Britannia Street, nos. 20, 28, 32, 33, 48. 

In the 1920s, a John Maistre operated a printing press for the large Maltese community in Detroit.

Real photo postcard of Queen Square, Valletta

In the interwar years, Maistre issued various sets of Malta postcards, one series in black and white, one colourised, another, equally monochrome but ‘real photographs’ (not printed), and a fourth one in colour, with artwork by an unspecified painter, perhaps Henry Zarb (1875-1955 – a guess prompted by similarities of style). None of these sets seem to have been produced in Malta – see typos in captions, like ‘warf’ for wharf.

Postcard of Pietà Wharf in the 1930s. Note the misspelt caption

Msida creek postcard by Maistre, image attributed to Henry Zarb.

Maistre photographic postcard of a Gozo boat

Maistre’s extensive set of photographic postcards relies on the output of a skilled but unidentified camera artist. All come in a deckle-edged white frame captioned in italic script. Several images aspire to higher aesthetic perfection.

Colourised postcard of a woman in 'għonnella'.

A striking photo postcard of a seller milking a goat.

A country girl with a small herd of goats

Apart from the inevitable stock vignettes – the goatherd, the women in għonnella, the milk seller, the dgħajsa, the battleships, the Gozo boat, the monuments, mostly in the Valletta and Sliema/St Julian’s areas – Maistre broke with convention by including some satire, almost verging on the genteel osé, and some verse: patriotic but, again, almost verging on the mock. No other mainstream postcard publisher took those risks.

An unrecognisable Tower Road, Sliema, in a Maistre postcard

The Dragonara area, mostly fields

All postcards from the author’s collection

The orange market in Marina Wharf, Grand Harbour