His Photo
An unusual card which shows a woman, presumably a dancer, looking at the the photograph of a man, a self-reflexive trope that may or may not be recognized by us, who hold the postcard in our hands.
Postcard
The Governor's Bodyguard
Formed in 1865, the Governor's Bodyguard was a colorful, often-illustrated cavalry in their red and white uniforms and mustachioed Rajput horsemen.
Madras Victoria Hall
[Original caption] Victoria Hall, built 1883-1888 in honor of the Empress of India, was designed by Chisholm in keeping with the style of the Central Railway Station, one of the finest in India.
Charpoy Weavers
There are not that many postcards showing the charpai [charpoy], a ubiquitous feature of Indian life, defined in Hobson-Jobson (1903, p.
Shipping on the Hooghly
An example of how the earliest postcards of a place were often design masterpieces. Note how the palm tree merges with the ship masts, and nautical rope and elements carefully surround the whole frame.
Exit of Khyber Pass into Peshawar Plain
Most postcards of the Khyber Pass show the decline of the roadway towards the Afghan border at Torkham, where the Frontier of India [now Pakistan] sign stood.
The Club of Western India. Poona
Benjamin B. Cohen, in his highly informative study of Raj clubs, In the club Associational Life in colonial South Asia writes: "Locating the center of the [colonial] club's sphere at Government House de-centered the club and reflects the strong link
Punkha Boy
A key figure in the Raj was the punkha boy or man, who pulled the string that moved a fan in a bar or in the sleeping quarters to keep their employers cool.
The Gorgeous East Mounting a Royal Tusker
An early painted postcard, part of a series commemorating the 1903 Delhi Durbar but abstracted to something broader as "The Gorgeous East" series; note the water in the background which likely would not have been part of the Delhi Durbar.
A Kuchi Family
Occasionally, nomads — those most fleeting of human subjects and least sedentary inhabitants of our planet—were caught on a postcard.
