Dappled sunlight filters through tall elms to illuminate the warm stucco façade of Hillcrest, the former home of beloved American humorist Josh Billings (pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw, 1818–1885), captured here in a delicately tinted Rotograph card postmarked October 11, 1907. Shaw, born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, rose to national fame with his folksy aphorisms and misspelled-for-comic-effect essays; this gracious two-story house with its columned portico and striped awning speaks to the modest respectability of his Berkshire roots. The card was sent by someone signing only their initials to a Mrs. A. at 101 Spring Street in Keene, New Hampshire — a charming example of early-century postcard mania when literary pilgrimage sites like this drew curious tourists and proud locals alike.