Uncut Proof Sheet of 16 Vintage Postcards

[No place, 1910. Very Good. Uncut printer’s proof sheet measuring 14” x 22½” with 16 uncut postcards (3½” x 5½”) illustrated with black and white photographic images of men and women printed inside a blind embossed frame. Each postcard has a unique image with standard Post Card mailing format printed on the back. The right vertical edge is trimmed (extending about half way within the embossed right-side border of the four postcards printed along that edge, with the corresponding top edge of the printed versos of the four postcards slightly shaved), else very good or better with modest toning and one small tear on the bottom edge.

A charming and sassy series of images, featuring young men and women photographed in a series of sixteen suggestive situations involving a swing and bench. Each postcard is captioned in the image with lines like: “I love to swing like this,” “Let us join in the game,” “Boy Wanted,” etc. We were able to identify examples of only three postcards, one of which had a 1911 postmark from New Berlin, Ohio, thus our attribution of the date circa 1910.

All sixteen images present a charming window into the sexual mores of the day. A scarce survival.