A fashionable Edwardian beauty gazes sidelong over a generous sheaf of sweet peas, her curled hair bound with a green ribbon — rendered in delicate graphite and selective hand-color, this 1911 copyright illustration by Schlesinger Bros. of New York exemplifies the height of the Golden Age of postcards, when illustrated "pretty woman" cards were collected and traded by the millions. The card was postmarked in Washington, D.C. on December 17, 1912, and mailed to a young woman named Marguerite in Poolesville, Maryland — a small farming community in Montgomery County — where the message, written in a neat hand, offers a warm holiday greeting just days before Christmas. Artist monogram "4VO" (or similar) appears at lower center; Schlesinger Bros. published widely distributed illustrated series from their New York house.