Perfect for sharing Mardi Gras with friends and family or for inviting them to Carnival, these postcards reproduce invitations of the Golden Age (1870-1930). Selected from the pages of the upcoming volume Mardi Gras Treasures: Invitations of the Golden Age , the images that grace these postcards extend invitations to visit the glorious past of New Orleans, which was ablaze with fantastic, torch-lit processions and opulent tableau balls. While the mysterious parades were public, the fabulous balls were private, and invitations to them were coveted. Ball invitations, dance cards, and admit cards reflected exalted themes drawn from mythology, epic literature, religion, and whimsy. Presented in this collection are dazzling examples of that artistry-masterworks of design and lithography, most of them reproduced here for the first time.