In other postcard stories, we have seen illustrated postcards that enticed readers to subscribe or renew subscriptions to magazines:
“Schloss Ehrenfels” (Comfort Magazine), Reddington Western Mural (“Home Friend”), Braydon Landscape (“Woman’s World”), “Loving Greetings” (“Household Journal”).
Although periodicals that came to be called “magazines” were published throughout the 19th century, there was a great expansion of new publications in the early 20th century.
Factors such as public education, rising wages, and special postal rates fed the demand for magazines.
Sometime around 1910, the publisher of “Woman’s World” printed a postcard advertisement for their product.
(Note: This is not the tabloid paper geared toward mature women that is found today in supermarkets.)
Sent from the publisher’s address in Chicago, the postcard solicited a subscription to the magazine with the “Largest circulation in the world”.
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of the great fountain at Leiria, Portugal.
A postcard blurb informs us that Leiria is on a fertile plain about 75 miles northeast of Lisbon
Leiria was a settlement of indigenous Celtic people, and entered history with the establishment of a Roman town about 100 BCE.
Like many places on the Iberian Peninsula, Leiria has a long and storied history of conquest and re-conquest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiria
The beautiful city retains a formidable castle and a Romanesque Cathedral (12th century).
Once surrounded by great pine forests that furnished ships for the Golden Age of Portuguese Exploration, the area is known today for grapes and olives, and a great variety of crops.
https://www.centerofportugal.com/article/unique-leiria-a-city-full-of-curiosities
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The fountain in the postcard photograph, a tall, baroque structure with associated sculptural groups, appears on many other postcards and a few travel brochures through the 1920’s.
I have not yet found confirmation that the fountain still exists nor an account of the fountain’s history.
One hopes that the exciting pictures of distant lands encouraged the collector of the postcard to subscribe to the magazine.





