Serravallo's Tonic
An early advertising postcard that makes you wonder if it is really India that is being shown, or perhaps an Arab scene?
Lithograph
Lithograph
Fisher Woman
An early postcard and theme of Bombay artists, the fisher woman, with a basket of fish on her head. A fishing vessel is in the background, its mast at an angle which adds energy to her pose.
James Bazaar Street, Secundarabad
This was a very popular view of what is now MG [Mahatma Gandhi] Road in Secundarabad/Hyderabad.
Greetings from Carl Hagenbeck's India 1898
A rare and exceptional early color postcard by Carl Hagenbeck, the German circus and exotic people's promoter whose fairs throughout continental Europe drew large audiences.
Hindu Beauty
A lithographic card, most likely done by an Indian artist and printed in Britain. Note how nicely the woman is foregrounded from a low angle, with a smaller temple in the background and a swirl of green that helps give life to the portrait.
An Indian Woman travelling in the Manshil
A very early postcard printed in India, most likely by The Ravi Varma Press and drawn by its chief lithographer Paul Gerhardt.
British Empire Coins Embossed
One of those beautiful embossed lithographic cards the Germans were fond of producing that depicted, probably in actual size, coinage and their equivalencies from different parts of the world.
India
Postcards actually developed in part from advertising cards.
Calcutta
Among the earliest known postcards of Kolkata, by a local and likely Austrian,photographer. Note the four tiny titles below each vignette for those eager to know.
A Morning Obligato
A very early postcard printed in India (postmarked Dec. 1902 in one instance) by the lithographer W. Cooper. The chance discovery of another photographic postcard shows how a scene like this was composed.
