Antique & Vintage Postcards

From the pine-needle floor of a Cape Cod woodland, a solitary Pink Lady's Slipper — Cypripedium acaule — unfurls its pouched magenta bloom alongside a still-nodding bud, photographed in raking warm light that turns the leaf litter to burnished copper and gives the rare native orchid an almost devotional presence; the back of this chrome-era card reminds recipients that the plant is "quite rare and should be left alone," a conservation plea printed in an era when such reminders were urgently needed for this slow-growing, mycorrhizal-dependent wildflower that can take fifteen years to produce its first flower. Chatham publishers the Sawins made a specialty of Cape Cod natural-history subjects, and this card belongs to their well-regarded wildlife series.