A highly unique, museum-quality window into early 20th-century print media culture and American social history! This original 1916 Divided Back Era postcard represents a fascinating crossover between vintage magazine collecting and regional West Virginia postal history.
🎨 FRONT ARTWORK: Features a beautifully hand-colored photograph of an Edwardian couple intimately embracing on a scenic country path, titled with the classic bold typography greeting: "I HAVE A DESIRE TO HUG YOU." (Serial production code 1215-5).
✉️ BACK & HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE: This card features a wonderful, rare message documenting how people made out-of-state friends before the internet! Written in sharp fountain pen ink by a woman named Janet Lynch in Maynard, Massachusetts, the letter reads: "seeing your name in the Family Story Paper would be pleased to correspond with you. Janet Lynch, Maynard Mass. Box 435."
The card is addressed directly to a Mr. Harry L. Payne in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, who had listed his name in the correspondence column of the famous weekly periodical, the New York Family Story Paper.
Features a clear, beautiful circular machine cancel postmark from Maynard, Mass. dated January 3, 1916. The original 1-cent stamp has been historically removed, but the reverse paper stock remains clean and structurally sound.
✨ CONDITION: Excellent antique condition for being 110 years old. Very square corners, clean margins, and highly vibrant color preservation on the front face illustration. The handwriting on the reverse side is dark, bold, and perfectly legible.
Ships safely packaged in a protective sleeve. An exceptional find for collectors of Massachusetts or West Virginia town history, social ephemera, or advanced deltiologists!