Tucked inside a tiny burgundy leather envelope — complete with a working brass turn-clasp no bigger than a thumbnail — a concertina of eight miniature views of Besançon unfurls like a secret the postcard has been keeping for over a century. The decorative cover is a tour de force of early French novelty printing: a tricolor bearing the "R.F." monogram of the République Française billows above a double-headed eagle emblem, surrounded by hand-tinted roses and forget-me-nots on a silver-gray embossed ground, published by Liard of Besançon. A red 10-centime Semeuse stamp — the workhorse of the French Third Republic postal system — is cancelled and the card bears a manuscript message in French beginning "Encore 3 mais…" suggesting the sender was counting down days. The interior strip, labeled in elegant script, includes Église St. Claude, Vue sur Caillée, Gare de la Mouillère, Fontaine de l'État-Major, Vue de la Citadelle, St. Fol au Bois, Casino des Bains Salins, and Panorama pris de Chaudanne — a complete portrait of a proudly provincial French city.