[Original caption] General Post Office. The general buildings of Madras are more than usually handsome. Along the seafront stretching north from the Esplanade are the General Post Office and the Bank of Madras, the Custom House, etc.
A very finely hand-tinted postcard, with the indigo closely fitting the cloth, one arm balancing a basket of fruit on the seller's head, the other reaching out to the viewer with a bright red sample.
[Original caption] Numgumbakum Bridge.
A wonderfully hand-tinted postcard by Spencer & Co., with its signature red used with great balance across the girl's clothing. The jewelry makes one wonder whether some of them are really school girls.
Postmarked Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2/11/1907 and sent
The successful colorization of what was originally a black and white photograph is exemplary.
A moody image in sepia of palm trees in the Chepauk district of Chennai.
[Verso] “Madras. 27.12.13. On the run again this time Madras Bombay Karachi Lahore Calcutta Rangoon.
Hobson Jobson defines the "jutka" in this finely coloured postcard with condescending tone "s. From Dak. -- Hind. jhaṭkā, 'quick.' The native cab of Madras, and of Mofussil towns in that Presidency; a conveyance only to be characterised by the
Today goatskins, pigskins and earthen pitchers have given way to plastic jars and bottles and huge, lumbering dripping water tankers that supplement inadequate piped water supplies in towns and cities throughout South Asia.
A postcard that sums up the fantasy of colonial life for Europeans. The dog resting by the tub is to Indians most unhygienic, but to Europeans the ultimate Raj bathroom accessory.
Combridge & Co. were among the earliest publishers of India postcards, a number of which they printed as cyanotypes, a blueish monochrome print popular around the turn of the century. This building still exists, but is now the Madras Club.
