Antique & Vintage Postcards

Rising from bare limestone crags above a winding Bohemian valley, Karlštejn Castle — Hrad Karlův Týn in Czech — is rendered in deep indigo blue on this early undivided-era card, its massive Great Tower and Chapel of the Holy Cross stacked in medieval tiers against a pale sky, the village path below framed by garden walls and overhanging trees. Built by Emperor Charles IV in the 14th century to safeguard the Bohemian crown jewels, Karlštejn was already one of Central Europe's most photographed monuments by the early 20th century. Someone has penciled a return address on the image side: "Praha – Vinohrady / Blaničká 4 n" — placing the sender in one of Prague's elegant early-modern districts. The card was posted to Fräulein Elise at Veronikagasse 1, Wien XVI, Austria, with a Hungarian stamp (Budapest postmark visible) suggesting the card may have been mailed via Budapest during the complex postal transitions of the early post-Habsburg period. The publisher's blind-stamp on the reverse reads "Nakladatelství B. Koci, Praha" (Bursík & Kohout / B. Kočí, a noted Prague publisher).