Kolkata

"Vast indeed have been the changes that have occurred in Calcutta during the past few decades," writes Allister Macmillan in Seaports of India and Ceylon, "but none has been more remarkable than that represented by the Grand Hotel, which occupies an…

Postmarked May 25, 1898 (?) and addressed to Master Leslie Hurst, 4 Waterlook Road, Nottingham, England: "My dear Leslie I have another p.c. [postcard] for you – Did you go to Gooe fair. It is your fair day today.

Among the earliest postcards of Varanasi, this court-sized card was made from an albumen photograph (its title is still inscribed in the negative) and framed by a floral design.

[Original caption] The Royal Botanical Gardens on the west bank of the river, were founded in 1780 on the suggestion of Colonel Kyd, and have been of more service to public and private gardens of the world than any other horticultural institute.

There are not that many postcards showing the charpai [charpoy], a ubiquitous feature of Indian life, defined in Hobson-Jobson (1903, p. 185) as "the common Indian bedstead, sometimes of very rude materials, but in other cases handsomely wrought and…

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.

[Original caption] Calcutta Coolies. The Coolies of Calcutta, otherwise porters or carriers, are men of fine physique, and are able to carry exceptionally heavy weights supported on their heads.

The word "peon" owes its origin to the Spanish word which means laborer. Although peons in European society were considered somewhat lowly in status, in India at the turn of the century peons were white collar employees who could, over time, rise in…

Kalighat - Burning Ghat - Nautch Girl - Kali
One of the earliest "Greetings from Calcutta" postcards, by the German or Austrian photographer Werner Roessler who was based in the city and had the lithographic card printed in Austria from his…

The ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest in India, what is now known as the Indian Museum Kolkata was started in 1814 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A Danish botanist, Nathaniel Wallich, is considered its founder.