Galle Face Hotel, Ceylon

Galle Face Hotel, Ceylon

c. 1901
13.80x
9.00cm

An exceptionally well put together early advertising postcard. The palm trees around the hotel image extend the real ones inside the frame, the one on the top right seems to jut out from the actual ones. The man seated in front adds a personal dimension to the scene, as if waiting for the next guest. Will it be you? It was this sort of sophisticated graphic attention that helped postcards – and hotels – become so popular around the turn of the century.

[Original caption] The Hotel de Luxe of the East. J. Hoffer, Manager. Seawater Swimming Bath. 250 Apartments. French Cuisine. Telegrams "Galifacio". [end]