Much of the early postcard market was driven by collectors who exchanged cards with each other around the world, as this text on this card illustrates. Addressed to Frau Emma Valenti in Trieste, Austria:
A very early blue-toned postcard from booksellers Cobridge and Co. Sent from Bombay's Sea Post Office, date unclear, to Mr. J. Sherman, 12 Middleton Square, Clerkennell, E.C. London, England: "With fondest love to all from Arthur."
Kolams or muggulu are thought to bring prosperity to homes. These intricate rice flour decorations are made by women in front of doorsteps primarily in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Although the word "dandy" originally referred to boatmen on the Ganges (Hobson-Jobson, 1906, p. 296) it later also was defined as "A kind of vehicle used in the Himālaya, consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock to a bamboo staff, and…
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. Macropolo & Co., also a tobacco manufacturer and retailer with…
[Recto] "They are called gypsies and live in little straw huts out in the fields. I wrote you once about seeing them. I want to buy a dress to bring home.
Note how nicely the stamp is positioned in line with the woman's arms; according to the so-called "language of stamps" current at the turn of the century, this stamp position might mean the sender is asking "Do you love me?" or even "Your love…
Around the turn of the century, women of Bombay were on the cutting-edge of popular fashion, photographed in studio settings like this one and extensively postcarded.
