Sunday, December 31, 2023
Wish You Were Here, from Dwig
Well, I looked around for a New Year's card to feature and came up dry -- they do exist, but they aren't plentiful -- so here's an alternative take to usher in the leap year of 2024. It was once a pseudo-custom that in leap years women were permitted to propose marriage to men. It wasn't a real thing, frankly, but more of a running cruel gag that leap years offered the less desireable ladies a chance to try to snag themselves a husband.
The Samuel Gabriel & Sons Company offered a whole series of postcards commemorating leap year, titled the Leap Year Series 401, all featuring great cartoons by Dwig. None of my examples have a legible postmark, I'm afraid, but I'd lay a bet that they were issued in 1908, which is right in the middle of the gag postcard craze.
Labels: Wish You Were Here
