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.
Court sized
Court card or court sized card was the name given to a size of picture postcard, mainly used in the United Kingdom, which were approximately 4.75 x 3.5 inches and predates the standard size of 5.5 x 3.5 inches (Wikipedia).
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.
Parsee Priest
From Dhurandhar's earliest postcard series featuring the people of Bombay. Once again, a gesture defines character, with the white space next to the priest space for the sender to write a message.
The Albert Museum, Jeypore
A very early postcard of Jaipur, made from an albumen print, title and photographer visible in white where it was inscribed onto the albumen negative. The color was applied through hand-tinting. Compare to a colorized postcard of the same image made
Greetings from Darjeeling
One can only marvel at the early "Greetings from" postcard, the way five photographs are woven into one image with the help of plant motifs, in this case tree branches but often palm trees for Indian images.
Coolie with his Basket
A postcard by the great Indian painter M.V. Dhurandhar illustrating an Englishwoman looking over a coolie offering his services with an empty basket. Note the cleverly positioned Indian woman with a basket on her head in the background.
The message
Souvenir of Darjeeling Himalaya
Thomas Paar was one of the earliest publishers of Darjeeling postcards, and a longtime photographer with a grand studio in the middle of the hillstation.
Parsee Ladies at Seaside
Dhurandhar and other J.J. School students spent so much time sketching at the beach on Marine Drive, they could hardly have failed to pick-up a sight like this. The daughter in Parsee Ladies at Seaside is even more Westernized than her mother.
Gosavi (Ascetic)
A very early postcard printed in India. Gosavi is a Marathi word that refers to someone who has renounced worldly pleasures and wears garments of the "brick-dust" color shown here.
Calcutta
[Original] Durga - Great Eastern Hotel - Telegraph Office - Snake Charmers [end]
A card from the earliest known series of Calcutta postcards by the Austrian photographer W.
