E. L. D. / E. Le Deley Paris
The Parisian printing firm of E. Le Deley (E. L. D.), located at 73, rue Claude Bernard, was founded by the photographer Ernest Louis Désiré le Deley (1859-1917). It had large retail premises at 127 bvd de Sebastopol. How popular postcards were in the early years of the century is shown by its size, as seen in the example cards. After Le Deley's death, the firm was run by his sons. It apparently went bankrupt in 1930 but it continued to appear in the 1931 and 1932 editions of Annuaire Universal PARIS-ADDRESSES at 11 r. des Arquebusiers.The company was a major publisher of heliotype, black-and-white postcards. It also produced gravure and tinted cards. Heliotype printing involved exposing a gelatin film under a negative, hardening it with chrome alum, and printing directly from it.
Some Rotophot series also appear with ELD branding, presumably because they were more easy to sell in France - though this happened with German publishers too. For example cards of set RPH 2091 appeared as ELD 8000 and PFB Series 16.
