The Waterfall, Chakrata
As the postcard business became increasingly competitive, especially after about 1905, printers and publishers went to great lengths with frames and colours to distinguish their products.
Embossed
Lahore, Chief Court, Punjab.
[Original caption] Chief Court, Lahore. This fine building is in the late Pathan style of the 14th century. Between the Court and the Cathedral is a statue of Lord Lawrence who was Chief Commissioner and Lieut. Governor of the Punjab 1853-1859. [end]
Comrades
"India, with no less alacrity, has claimed her share in the common task. Every class and creed, British and Native, Princes and People, Hindoos and Mahomedans, vie with one another in a noble and emulous rivalry.
Sexan Hospital, Meerut
Hospitals found there way on to many postcards, symbols of progress that probably reflected colonial health concerns.
Dreams in Stone, Temple of Halebid, Mysore State
This is what collectors call a "brushstroke" postcard, where the printer has slightly embossed the image.
Bengali Lady
This striking image of a Bengali woman was apparently first published by a Greek tobacconist based in Kolkata, Nestor Gianaclis, and later also published in different variations by D.
A Village Scene
As competition among postcard publishers intensified between 1905 and 1910, each tried to outdo the other with new formats offered by the German printers who served much of the Indian market.
Baroch Station K.S. Ry. (India)
For a beautiful postcard like this, we might reach for an excerpt by Nirad Chaudhri (1897-1999). Even if written about a different railway station, in East Bengal, it shows how impactful trains were to those in India at the turn of the century.
The Cattle Show at Pushkar, Ajmer
An embossed frame sets off a rare early postcard of what is presumably the famous Pushkar fair, with the colonial perspective of a onetime owner scrawled across the top: "Does not look much like our Cattle Shows."
Round Temple, Sandhurst Road, Bombay
The Round Temple of Mumbai is also known as the Gol Dewal, on what is now Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rd. It is also famous for the stone market situated on both sides of it. This market is considered the city's oldest.
