19.00 USD
"Bohemian Paris of Today," by William Chambers Morrow, and published in 1900, is a wonderful journal detailing the adventures of a young American art student in Paris toward the end of the 19th century. In it, the author mentions a small workshop down the street from where he lived in the Quartier Latin. In this workshop, perhaps twenty or so women earned their daily bread (and often that of their families) sitting at tables throughout the long days, working with little hammers and dies, carefully embossing postcards. So please do understand, this card was probably not stamped out by a machine in some huge factory, but carefully embossed and colored by human hands. The fourth image for this listing is of the same card back as in the third image, but we have altered the color levels in the scan (something we absolutely never do merely to improve the appearance of a card, by the way) so that you can see the fine detail of the embossing work on this image. Worked from the back out, the technique was used to impart a bit of a 3D effect to the image.
Wonderful unidentified image of Geraldine Farrar, internationally acclaimed opera diva. Born in 1882, in Massachusetts, she studied voice in France, and then in 1901 Berlin, enjoyed tremendous acclaim following her debut as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, One of her fans was the eldest son of the Kaiser, Crown Prince Wilhelm, with whom she was reputed to have had an affair.
In 1907, after returning to America, She performed the role of Cio Cio San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the Met. Geraldine Farrar was to remain a member of that company until her retirement in 1922.
Miss Farrar believed strongly in the idea of incorporating acting into her operatic roles, to the degree that she was known to insert unrehearsed "bits" into performances. On one occasion, she caused quite a ruckus during a performance of Carmen, when, in the title role, she got a little carried away and reputedly "bit" famed operatic tenor, Enrico Caruso.
In between opera seasons she appeared in a number of silent films, and was followed about by crowds of enthusiastic young women who earned the name Gerry-flappers!
We are both quite satisfied that this is an image of Geraldine Farrar, but please, before purchasing this card, Google image search Miss Farrar and satisfy yourself. We want you happy with your purchase.
A very nice card, difficult to find, and posted in 1905, just a couple of years before Miss Farrar's return to the US. In a couple of spots, a little of the darker hair tint on the image was rubbed away at some point, allowing some of the flesh-toned undercoat to show through. We love the way minor distress and aging offer us clues to the processes of decoration. These are pretty much lost arts, today.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!