Collotype

An early multi-coloured view of Varanasi.

Many early Bombay postcards focused on the cotton trade, the source, with opium, of much of the city's early wealth.

During the so-called Boxer Rebellion in China, when local Chinese radicals joined with the Imperial Army to fend off Western, Russian and Japanese advances, Indian troops fighting on the British side played a role in the battle for the city in July…

[Verso] "Mission Hospital, Kolar, India.
Dear aunt Connie:
This will not reach you until after your birthday. Am sorry I did not get it off before. Hope you have a very happy day. This center piece was made in a Mission School. Much Love, Edith.

Postmarked Ferozpur, January 13, 1910 and addressed to Master Bottie Anderson, 92 Manor Park, London S.E. England.

"Lots of Love and Kisses from Daddy & Mother Ferozpur Jan 13 1910."

A delicately hand tinted view of Akbar's Tomb outside Agra, built by his son Jehanghir between 1605 and 1613.

Given how ubiquitous the trope of snake charmers and India was in popular Western culture in the early 20th century, it is refreshing to find that they are not as common in postcards as one might expect.

An early keyhole postcard view of Marine Drive, probably from a photograph made in the 1890s.

The April 4, 1905 earthquake, one of the largest in India history, killed over 20,000 people. This undivided back postcard would have been one of the first times the postcard was being put to the reporting of current events use in British India.

Hospitals found there way on to many postcards, symbols of progress that probably reflected colonial health concerns.