Egg, 1903

Complete series of six postcards showing an enormous egg in front of a painted backdrop of a bucolic landscape. Over the series, the egg opens into left and right halves to reveal a woman dressed as an 18th-century male aristocrat who pays court to a woman dressed as a female aristocrat. Postmarks show the cards were mailed successively during the course of two months, with a message on the final one in the photo-narrative stating, "Thanks, this is the last one." The dates and inscription suggest how such series were sometimes used to sustain interest in a friendly correspondence over time. Postage stamp and postmark on one corner on verso of each card. Curved impression to corners of cards indicating the set was once place in a die-cut postcard holder. Inscription: "Addressed to Mademoiselle A. Lefort; signed on recto of each card: five signed G.M.; one signed Germaine. Brief message on lower right corner of recto of each card, two in English, the rest in French. Message on last mailed card indicates “Merci, c’est la dernière.”