Kalkara and Birzebbuga in early postcards

Abstract

There appears to be a great imbalance in the production of early Malta postcards, with views of the harbour towns turning up ever so frequently, and all the others, it seems, ranging from moderately to extremely rare. The scarcest of them all probably belong to the so-called 'south' of Malta, a rather recent label which sounds as politically loaded as it is geographically slipshod: what passes for the south more correctly leans to the east. Along with the three harbour cities, this area comprises Haz-Zabbar, Zejtun, Imqabba, Qrendi, Hal-Safi, Zurrieq, Marsascala, Kalkara, Hal-Luqa, Hal-Ghaxaq, Hal-Kirkop, Gudja, Birzebbuga and Marsaxlokk. Early postcards of these localities prove considerably hard to come by. [excerpt]