[Original caption] Snake Charmers, Calcutta. The Snake Charmer, as a rule, is an itinerant being, who is glad to charm his snakes in your compound, or before your house or bungalow, for a small reward.
An early view of Kolkata by one of its first postcard publishers. The fine detail and texture of the collotype can be seen even in how the individual telephone wires are visible.
A very evocative studio portrait of three – instead of the usual single - ayah which, intentionally or not, hints at something of the pathos of their work.
A humorous card by one of the largest Raj retailers, comparing Western and Eastern cooks and procedures. It is signed by the artist Geo[rge] D. and dated [19]11 in the bottom right corner.
Nautch dancers inspired stories like Hassan Shah’s The Nautch Girl, “the first known modern Indian novel” in the 1790s, as well as the first Urdu novel, the story of the Lucknow courtesan Umrao Jaan Ada in 1899.
Hobson-Jobson's, the famous dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms, defines Chuprassy as "the bearer of a chapras, i.e. a badge-plate inscribed with the name of the office to which the bearer is attached.
Another F. Perlberg signed postcard. Murrays A Handbook for Travellers in India Burma and Ceylon (1938) writes of this view "On the W.[est] side of Dalhousie Square is the large domed building of the General Post Office, occupying part of the site…
In The River showing Jetties and Howrah Bridge. Calcutta ships from all over the world are docked on the Hooghly, next to 18th and 19th century mansions occupied by successful trading houses.
A fourth card in Rossler’s 1897 lithographic series of Calcutta features a fakir, the male counterpoint to the nautch dancer. Above the fakir is his spiritual guide along lifelong wanderings, Lord Shiva.
