Domesticity

A nice bit of word play on this unsent card.  Somebody was having to sew his own buttons on, a useful skill any man should have.  Poor lonely bachelor who problems would be over, or maybe just beginning, if he could only find a nice girl.

This embossed card is from 'BB London' the trading name of Birn Brothers with their interlocking Bs logo. They printed a lot of these type of cards from 1905 onwards.  This one was printed in Germany in either Saxony or Bavaria.  They also produced greeting cards and it is said that the children's author Enid Blyton wrote some of their verses.

If our bachelor was American he may have used the service of these ladies.  This is a card of the 1943 painting 'Ironers' by the 20th Century artist Jacob Lawrence who called his style dynamic cubism. As part of the Harlem Renaissance he documented the history of African Americans and in this instance Harlem life.  Domestic labour was the only option for many women in western society in the first half of the 20th century but Lawrence shows these as a community of strong powerful women wielding huge irons.  They look the old cast irons that had to be warmed up on a fire or filled with hot coals.  You would sure get muscles wielding one of those.  I am so glad to be living in the 21st century.


To visit more participants of Postcard Friendship Friday visit our hostess at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy