Sunlight falls across immaculate lawns and a billowing herbaceous border in this richly chromolithographed early Edwardian view of Hampton Court Palace's garden façade — the great Wren-designed south front glowing warm honey-gold above the manicured grounds that have welcomed visitors since Henry VIII first made the palace his own. Published by J. Beagles & Co. of London EC (Copyright No. 52) and printed in Saxony — the German printing heartland that produced the finest colour postcards of the era — this card dates from the very dawn of the picture-postcard craze in Britain, when the inland stamp rate was a halfpenny and foreign a penny, as noted in the stamp box. The composition is a classic Beagles type: careful colour separation, soft sky, and botanical foreground interest that made these cards enormously popular with the Edwardian day-tripper who had just stepped off the train at Hampton Court station. Unused and in excellent condition, with the characteristic warm ochre card stock of Beagles' Saxony-printed range.