A very early postcard printed in India. Gosavi is a Marathi word that refers to someone who has renounced worldly pleasures and wears garments of the "brick-dust" color shown here.
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.
"The stranger unacquainted with conditions in India, and visiting Bombay for the first time, cannot fail to be impressed by an inspection of the huge assortment of books which Messrs D B Taraporevala, Sons and Co find it necessary to keep in hand to…
A very early lithographic postcard of Calcutta, postmarked as early as the first half of 1899, and published from Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
[Original] Durga - Great Eastern Hotel - Telegraph Office - Snake Charmers [end]
A card from the earliest known series of Calcutta postcards by the Austrian photographer W. Roessler whose photographs are likely the source of the four images on the…
This card was made primarily for domestic audiences as the Hindi title, and secondary English title cleverly tucked into a corner vertically suggest. Note how the remnants of another postcard from a skewed cut is visible at the top.
The Chitra Shala Press in Pune was one of the first and most prominent 19th century printers in India, and an early pioneer of lithographic printing in the subcontinent, known for their wall-size prints of Hindu religious scenes, playing cards and…
Snake charmers are one of the most common early Indian postcard subjects, and this must be one of the earliest and most beautiful such views. Note the clever use of the palm backdrop to create the illusion of depth, and the rich use of red.
An unusual lithographic postcard, blind stamped across the entire back "Haji Yusuf Haji Mohammed Pictures, Post-cards and Cutlery Merchant. Grant Road Cross-Lane. Bombay, 7" that suggests this firm may have been the publisher.
