The claim that this is a much extolled Kashmiri beauty is probably true, as this particular woman seems to appear on other postcards from the period. She is wearing the traditional Kashmiri dress, the pheran, and could be wearing a watch on her left
Postcards actually developed in part from advertising cards.
A regular Tuck's card turned into a Christmas with the embossed greeting on top.
[Original caption] A Travelling Student and Singer. The picture shows a Brahman from the Northern parts of India, a vaishnava by religion.
[Original caption] A Street Scene, Pydowni Junction. A typical street scene in Bombay. [end]
[Original caption] Where the Faithful of Islam meet. There are more than 60 millions of Mohammedans in India subdivided into many classes, The verandah from which the muezzin calls to the faithful at the house of prayer is conspicuous in the picture.
Postmarked Oct. 7, 1908, Birmingham and sent to Miss Jeffreys, 1, Northfield End, Henley-on-Thames [UK]: "Monday. Dear Auntie, Have you been to the Exhibition yet we have and it is Grand.
A moneylender strutting through the public square, carrying the ominous red books he uses to chase debtors through the courts, the vibrant city his backdrop.
[Original caption] Indian fruit is varied and luscious. Among the most popular are melons, guavas, bananas and mangoes. These, and others, are readily bought, and the fruit stall is a flourishing institution in every Indian bazaar. [end]
From a
Among the earliest known postcards of Kolkata, by a local and likely Austrian,photographer. Note the four tiny titles below each vignette for those eager to know.
[Original caption] The Moti Musjid. The Moti Musjid or Pearl Mosque, designed by the Moghal Emperor, Shah Jehan, 1625-58, glistens as the sun gleams on the dazzling white marble.
