Antique & Vintage Postcards

A skeletal fire-breathing dragon rears above a crouching human figure on a rocky outcrop — this haunting, darkly Symbolist fantasy scene titled 5 Fest am Mars ("Festival on Mars") was mailed from Vienna in May 1902, making it one of the earliest known sci-fi/fantasy postcards in the Austrian tradition. The photographic reproduction captures what appears to be a theatrical diorama or painted tableau: shadowy onlookers scatter in the lower left while alien vegetation fills the foreground. A handwritten message in old German script runs vertically along the right edge, addressed to Regina at IX Marianengasse, Vienna. Published by Hans Wawra of Vienna VIII, Wickenburggasse 14 — a respected Viennese art publisher active during the golden age of the Correspondenz-Karte.