Dundee is a modern city with a long history. It became a royal burgh in the late twelfth century, but the town itself long predates this, and human settlement in the area can be traced back many hundreds of years earlier. In its eight centuries of official existence, Dundee has been a medieval burgh subjected to invasion and conflict, a thriving seaport and centre of trade, and a booming industrial town known worldwide for its ‘Jute, Jam and Journalism’. It officially became a city in 1889 and, shortly after this, began to be documented by the medium of the picture postcard.

In many ways Dundee can be considered the home of the picture postcard. In the early years of the twentieth century when the craze for them was at its height, Valentines of Dundee was the world’s largest producer of postcards and their closest Scottish rival J. B. White Limited was also a local firm. Many photographs were taken for postcard production in Dundee and these images have become an invaluable historic archive for local historians. Dundee: The Postcard Collection dips into this archive and presents many rare and fascinating images of the city.

'The reviewer’s grandmother kept an album of postcards of the Edwardian era that was handed down through the family – perhaps with it the love of collecting them, aka deltiology. Like Brian he has his own collection of Dundee cards, but there are plenty of examples in this attractive book which are new to him; these, and many of the others, will surely be of great interest to anyone with connections to the city.' -- Steve Connelly * Scottish Local History, Autumn 2025 *

Brian King was born and grew up in Dundee and has always had an interest in the changing face of the city. He now lives in Edinburgh where he received an MA (Hons) in History at university. He currently works as a professional searcher of public records. He still regularly visits Dundee. He has published a number of local history books for Amberley Publishing.