Incredible Hand-Tinted Postcards Capture 1890s Ireland In Vivid Color

These postcards of the sweeping hills, cliffs, and towns of Ireland were created using the Photochrom process, a complex method of imbuing black-and-white photographs with relatively realistic color.

Glenoe Village, County Antrim.

Library Of Congress

The closely-guarded process was invented in the 1880s by an employee of a Swiss printing company. It entailed coating a tablet of lithographic limestone with a light-sensitive emulsion, then exposing it to sunlight under a photo negative. Continue reading »