Cotton Pickers
Many early Bombay postcards focused on the cotton trade, the source, with opium, of much of the city's early wealth.
Color
State Elephant, Jeypore
[Verso] "Mission Hospital, Kolar, India.
Dear aunt Connie:
This will not reach you until after your birthday. Am sorry I did not get it off before. Hope you have a very happy day. This center piece was made in a Mission School. Much Love, Edith.
Secundra, Entrance To Akbar's Tomb
A delicately hand tinted view of Akbar's Tomb outside Agra, built by his son Jehanghir between 1605 and 1613.
Snake Charmers
Given how ubiquitous the trope of snake charmers and India was in popular Western culture in the early 20th century, it is refreshing to find that they are not as common in postcards as one might expect. True, major publishers like Clifton & Co.
The Club, Allahabad
The Hindustan Review, edited by Sachchidananda Sinha, Bar-at-Law, and published from Allahabad in July, 1910, writes:
"A word may be added here as to social and intellectual life of Allahabad.
View From Malabar Hill, Bombay
An early keyhole postcard view of Marine Drive, probably from a photograph made in the 1890s.
The Diwan-i-Khas, Delhi
Mr. Hartmann did good publicity in The Picture Postcard, a London-based magazine for early British postcard collectors and enthusiasts. Most likely its editor E. W.
Midnight
Among the most interesting of postcards to come out before Partition are the hand tinted real photographs printed in Germany from Nanumal Riayatmal of Sukkur in Sindh.
Sexan Hospital, Meerut
Hospitals found there way on to many postcards, symbols of progress that probably reflected colonial health concerns.
The Entrance to the Khyber Pass
A lone cart contemplates entering the Khyber Pass on this early color postcard; nearly as daunting is the white space awaiting the sender's message.
