Collotype

Paharis refers to the indigenous hill people who lived around Shimla and populated a large area in the lower Himalayas.

A remarkable portrait, probably taken by the photographer Fred Bremner many of whose images of Kashmir were published by Clifton and Co., one of the earliest all-India postcard publishers.

An early undivided back postcard by The Phototype Company in Bombay, probably from its first pan-India series characterized by very high printing quality and red titles.

The dominant presence in the city when the British took control of Lahore 1848 was not the Mughals, but the Sikhs.

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Bombay, which opened in 1903, was very popular with visitors and on postcards.

One can only marvel at the early "Greetings from" postcard, the way five photographs are woven into one image with the help of plant motifs, in this case tree branches but often palm trees for Indian images.

Plate & Co. in Colombo dominated the postcard trade on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and sold half a million postcards in 1907 alone, an enormous sum for a single publisher.

A rare image of a pregnant woman (or is she just waiting?), posing in a studio, with an abundance of real vegetation surrounding her.

A moody image in sepia of palm trees in the Chepauk district of Chennai.

[Verso] “Madras. 27.12.13. On the run again this time Madras Bombay Karachi Lahore Calcutta Rangoon.

A startling image of an Indian actress, carrying a bow in one hand, perhaps from the play she is acting in. But is it a she?