Folk Art Postcard: "Oer the glad waters of the dark blue sea ..."

Original brown leather folk art postcard. Circa 1900 or 1906. 5 1/4" x 3 1/4." Title printed on the front. Postcard is unused. Postcard is very clean and intact overall. Slight age and surface wear. Upper-right corner dog-eared. A Very Good copy. This leather postcard shows a color illustration of the American flag with an excerpt from Lord Byron's The Corsair (1814), a tale told through poetic verse. The excerpt reads in whole, "Oer the glad waters of the dark blue sea / Our thoughts as boundless, / And our souls as free. / Far as the breeze can bear / And billows foam, / Survey our empire. / And behold our home. / Byron." Original holes are located along all of the edges. Leather postcards which were common during the early twentieth century. Leather postcards were first made in 1903. Most were made of deer hide and featured period humor of the day. Many featured text and illustrations that were etched into the surface via pyrography. Pyrography is an etching process that involves the use of a heated instrument such as a poker. After the etching process, color ink might have been applied to the leather. Some of the leather postcards included holes along their edges so they could be stitched together to form pillows and wall hangings. Leather postcards remained popular until about 1907 or 1909 when the United States Postal Service (USPS) banned them because they could not be processed in their sorting machines. The heyday of leather postcards ended about 1915 but circulation continued. For example, people found workarounds such as sending the leather postcards in envelopes. Later, the USPS updated their sorting machines so they could handle the leather material of the postcards. Although leather postcards never achieved the same level of popularity after 1915 as they did in their heyday, they can still occasionally be found in souvenir shops and the like to this day.. Postcard. Book Condition: Collectible-Very Good. Binding: No Binding

Stock number: 023103.

Bookseller's details and sales conditions: Barry Cassidy Rare Books