Vintage Thanksgiving Turkey Greeting Card | Victorian Era

Like a nature documentary crossed with a hostage negotiation, this magnificently plumed turkey stands chest-out in a nest of dry grass, tail fanned in full display with the kind of unsettling photorealistic detail that only a Victorian illustrator with too much time and too little therapy could produce. The iridescent feathers shimmer with genuine artistry, the wattled red neck and blue-green head rendered in loving, almost medical detail — which makes the cheerful gold-lettered 'Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving' floating beside its head land with the casual cruelty of a death row warden handing out birthday cake. This bird is not a cartoon. This bird has *texture*. This bird has *opinions*. And someone thought it would make a charming thing to mail.