Antique & Vintage Postcards

Ink-drawn banana leaves fan out over a sun-dappled courtyard where wrought-iron lacework frames a passage straight out of a 19th-century Creole dream — this is the famous patio of the Court of Two Sisters on Royal Street in New Orleans' French Quarter, rendered in evocative pen-and-ink by artist G. Bohland on tan linen stock. The Court of Two Sisters takes its name from Emma and Bertha, two Creole sisters who operated a notions shop on the site from 1886 until 1906; the building itself dates to 1832, and the wisteria-draped courtyard became one of the most photographed and romanticized spaces in all of New Orleans. The reverse carries a charming restaurant promotion inviting diners to hand the card to their waiter for mailing — a clever mid-century marketing trick — and notes poetically that while the "Two Sisters have long been gone," the "Court" remains "more charming and beautiful than ever."