Postcard, letterpress, 'The Kaiser's Dream', published by Stretford Road Publishing Company, Manchester, Britain, World War I, 1914-1918.

Postcard in landscape format. On the front: printed in red and black with a caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II brandishing a peace treaty in one hand and a sword in the other, trampling on a figure representing Belgium and being assailed by figures representing Britain, France, Russia and Serbia (who is fighting with a figure representing one of Germany's allies - probably Austria). Lettered in black within the image with caption and below the image in red with title and in black with publisher's information. On the back: printed in black with postcard template, stamped in black with V&A Museum mark, numbered and inscribed in black ink and pencil.

This postcard formed part of a group transferred from Photographs to Prints for accessioning. In the process of cataloguing them and releasing them from the boards onto which they had been mounted it was discovered some of the postcards had already been numbered with 1969 numbers (now noted in the 'other number' field as 'numbered in error'). When the Photographs accessions register for 1969 was consulted two unrelated groups of material with the same run of numbers was discovered. One of these groups, which included this postcard was credited as being 'Given by Mrs Harrington'. Registry could find no record of a donation from a 'Mrs Harrington'.

By the early 20th Century greetings postcards had overtaken folder cards in popularity as they were cheaper to post. A ban on Christmas cards to conserve supplies of paper was mooted during the First World War but the idea was abandoned in the interests of maintaining the troops' morale. This propaganda postcard caricatures Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, adapting the refrain of a popular song of the day to highlight the Kaiser's duplicity.

E.404-2008