The Dear Doctor Postcard Collector Page- The Origins of La Biomarine and Similar Cards by Publimer

The Origins of La Biomarine and Similar Cards by Publimer

by Tom Fortunato, July 5, 2008
Updated June 24, 2011

Back in March of this year I was contacted by Jeannine Goodeau (email: godeau.jeannine@orange.fr), a collector from Dieppe, France, and part of a very active philatelic club there that has done extensive research on postcards issued by the French drug manufacturer La Biomarine headquartered there.

Details provided me give an insight to the tours of not only La Biomarine but also several other companies that used similar looking cards in a variety of industries. Ms. Godeau and her club heard back from a La Biomarine spokesperson who sent this letter (in French, with a rough English translation added by me, (read the letter) and several other documents.

At least 19 different "tours" were organized by La Biomarine between 1947 and 1966 touting three drugs; Marinol, Plasmarine and Ionyl (tour listing). All cards were printed locally in Dieppe, with foreign stamps imported to the city where cards were assembled and readied for mailing. Presumably these were then forwarded to the appropriate country for mailing. Note that many more postcards from La Biomarine have been documented not fitting into these tours.

Most interesting was a chart explaining the link between La Biomarine and Publimer (see the chart), the Parisian firm that marketed the postcard scheme to other companies, some of which are listed in my master spreadsheet. Years listed are from confirmed cards. These include:

Drug Firms

Abbott Labs (USA) [I believe this was listed in error, as they used a separate set of cards]

Antibioticos S.A. Madrid (Spain)

Belgana (Belgium, 1955-1959), cards in French to Belgian addresses

Burroughs Wellcome (USA, 1956-1959)

Laboratoires Delacre Belgique (Belgium, 1955), cards in French to Belgian addresses

P.C.B. Bruxelles (Belgium)

Poulenc Limited Montreal (Canada, 1955-1962), cards in English and French to Canadian addresses

Squibb (USA, 1962-1963)

Firms with Other Products

Amora- food products, mustards and sauces (1952-1972), cards in French to French addresses

Arches [Papeteries d'Arches (Arches Paper), Aquarelle Arches (Arches Watercolors)], later Papier Arjomari- artist supplies (1953-1957)

Crayons Conte

Desparture et Fils- cloth products (1954), cards in French to French addresses

Maggi- food products (1958-1962), cards in German to German addresses

Nestle- Nescafe coffee (1957-1960), cards in Italian to Italian addresses

Porcelaines Le Tallec (1953)- ceramic items, cards in French to French addresses

Presto

I'd like to add to this list the following that signed their cards as:

Brunschwig Labs- German drug company (1949-50), cards in Spanish to Spanish addresses

C.S.- British communications company (1956-1958), cards in English to British addresses

Le Valle- unknown product (1955-1956), cards in French to French addresses
Bill Holland reports one other firm in his "Doctor Cards in the Pacific" article posted on this site:

Compagnie Miniere des Montmins Tranith- drilling tools (unknown date)

You may also be interested in the following 2007 French article I found dealing with La Biomarine headquarters and its products (click here).

Update 06/24/11
An article just published from the Falkland Islands Philatelic Study Group has uncovered the probable advertising agency responsible for at least the 1954/55 Falkland Islands mailings, if not all the Publimer issues. It described the advertising firm of Paul Baratte and Associates of London as the requestors of over 41,000 1/2 pence Falkland stamps for use on postcards mailed to French addresses. See the full article here.