This was the primary marque of Armand Noyer (1864-1954), one of the great Parisian publishers of illustrated postcards. Behind this and his other brands, A. Noyer, NP, Zed, YSA, Eva and others, there existed a substantial photographic and publishing business that survived two world wars, the transformation of Paris and the arrival of mass photography.

Noyer occupied the middle ground between photographer, publisher, art impresario and wholesaler. He called himself an ‘editeur’, reflecting his role in commissioning photographs and illustrations and reproducing paintings and sculpture. Yet he was a businessman too, exploiting contemporary celebrities and continually adapting his output to provide whatever the public wanted to see.

Julien Mandel, the photographer who took the photos for many of Noyer's cards, was a supporter of the German avant-garde outdoor ‘plein air’ movement. Towards the end of the run, the poses feature natural settings, playing on the ultra pale, uniform skin tones of the women set against the roughness of nature.