This hand-colored postcard was published by a firm (Valentine’s) in Dublin, circa 1910.
The illustration is one of a series of scenes from Valentine’s, which boasted that their postcards were “famous throughout the world”.
A burro pulls a high cart containing a man and a woman along a quiet road.
The legend indicates that the couple is returning from the fair; one hopes that the empty cart reflects a successful day of selling their produce.
The postcard was printed in Scotland, but I believe that the scene is Irish.
In the early 20th century, Ireland was predominantly rural and far less developed than England.
(The long subjugation of Ireland is too long a subject for a postcard story.)
The market fair remained a fixture of the farm economy well into the twentieth century.
The postcard was not mailed, so we assume that it was collected as an illustration of places in the world.
