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.
Kolkata
A Benares Dancing Girl
This card, sent by a Mr. Seamus on Dec. 1, 1905 from Kolkata, has a stamp positioned in the top that extends the tilt of the woman's head.
A Hill Coolie Girl
Although a coolie – "a hired labourer, or burden-carrier"(Hobson-Jobson, p. 249) – were at the bottom of the social ladder, and the word is said to originally come from Kolis, a hill-people in the Western Ghats, "whose savagery, filth and general
Office Peon
The word "peon" owes its origin to the Spanish word which means laborer.
Calcutta
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 Museum, Calcutta
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.
A Pahari Woman
Paharis refers to the indigenous hill people who lived around Shimla and populated a large area in the lower Himalayas.
Alastor Mystic
[Original back of advertising card] Alastor-Mystic-The Astrologer, Handreader and Clairvoyant from England. May be Consulted Daily at the Great Eastern Hotel, Calcutta, Room 59. (Hours 10 A.M. to 7 P.M.
Best Christmas Wishes 1908
A 101 years later, a look at a Christmas card from a major Calcutta retailer.
Continental Pneumatic Carriage Tyres
Before there were cars, there were carriages, and even these could benefit from pneumatic tyres which were inflated by air and led to more comfortable rides.
