India
This 1892 Singer Manufacturing Co. advertising card for its sewing machines is probably the very first postcard of India, even if technically it was an ad card and not meant to be mailed with a stamp and address visible on the back.
[Original
Bombay Mumbai
Priest taking dinner with his Pupil
One of those postcards that can be read, perhaps, as satirical or documentary.
Hindu Temple
An early lithographic postcard, and among the rarer ones, by the artist Paul Gerhardt. It was printed in Karli, outside Bombay, at the Ravi Varma Printing Press where Gerhardt worked as a lithographer.
Bombay Victoria Terminus
[Original caption] Victoria Terminus, Bombay (City). Bombay is by far the most European in appearance of all the cities of India. Extensive lines of tramway pass through the broad city streets that are continuously lined with splendid buildings.
A Marwari Woman
A classic Dhurandhar portrait. The growing metropolis of Bombay with its modern buildings form the backdrop to a fully formed character, in traditional dress, with a quizzical expression on her face. Does she understand what is happening around her?
A Table Servant
Note the liquor bottle, likely whisky and soda on the tray in the khitmatgar's hands.
Parsi Tower of Silence
A beautiful lithograph postcard featuring one of the most popular early postcard subject, the Parsee Tower of Silence on Malabar Hill in Bombay, where bodies are placed to be eaten by vultures waiting on the rim of the structure.
Master Nandram
A hand-tinted real photography by an exceptional filmi postcard publisher in Sukkur, Sindh. The actor Nandram starred in the film Master Stroke (1927) which this postcard may celebrate, else the "Master" may simply be his title.
An Indian Actress
A startling image of an Indian actress, carrying a bow in one hand, perhaps from the play she is acting in. But is it a she?
Music
[Verso, handwritten] "Oct. 24, 1915. My dear Annie, Do you think you could play this instrument? The music is very weird but I suppose they think it is nice. I don't!
