Many of the very few postcards of Bangladesh from pre-Partition times are by Catholic missionaries in Mymensingh in particular, here shown incongruously on a bullock cart.
[Original French title] Catechistes Missionnaires de Marie Immaculee -
A striking studio portrait in which the viewer's eyes are drawn by to subject's wide-open gaze. Was he asked not to blink? Or did the photographer amend the negative?
One can imagine that the textiles worn by the woman are vibrant with color, and the postcard could be spectacular hand-tinted, but the stripes still make for a billowing effect in black and white.
[Original caption] Narsingarh–Entrance to Old Fort. Narsingarh is the capital of the state of that name in Central India.
A very early advertising postcard for a fine French champagne from a brand that persists today by a distributor with a monopoly in the Bombay Presidency. Moet & Chandon would ikely have offered these cards to its distributors.
A rather early real photo postcard from what is now Bangladesh, a part of British India that is vastly under presented in postcard production.
These Gurkha soldiers were possibly photographed in the firm's Darjeeling studio (opened 1890) or Simla a few years later.
One could argue that the bhistee was the most common male postcard type at the turn of the 20th century.
Indian policemen and soldiers were an integral part of the British Empire's law and order apparatus in its Hong Kong colony. William Quin, after becoming Captain Superintendent in 1862, initiated direct recruitment from India.
Bengal's rivers were traversed by boats and steamers, on which this man served a captain. The firm he worked for, "I.G.S.N." is likely emblazoned on his shirt.
