A Bania Lady
A beautiful example of colorization, with the rich brown of wood and skin set off against the black and white original studio backdrop. On the back, one owner has pencilled in "Hindu Bourgeois."
Collotype
The Coolest Place in the House.
A postcard that sums up the fantasy of colonial life for Europeans. The dog resting by the tub is to Indians most unhygienic, but to Europeans the ultimate Raj bathroom accessory.
Sudder Bazaar, Karachi
This most interesting thing in this composite street scene is the way it brings the many forces of colonialism into view. In the distant background is Karachi's mammoth St. Patrick's Cathedral.
A Parsee Lady
Parsi women were a popular subject—progressive women with traditional virtues, counterpoints to the nautch girl. This Parsi Lady is holding what could be a postcard.
Chunglagali (Murree Hills)
A richly mysterious image by the postcard poet of the Murree hills, Baljee. A whisper of a road peeks out from under the forest coverage on the right above his signature in the original albumen negative.
Head of Tamil Girl
The sitter's expression is among the more memorable antique postcard portraits.
A Camel with rider and gun. Jaipur
One of the more unusual forces in Rajputana during the Raj was the Bikaner Camel Corps which "had such camels also on which 'jujarbas' or small cannon were mounted" (Nandakiśora Pārīka, Jaipur that was: royal court and the seraglio, p.
Sorting Jute
A moody postcard illustrating a manufacturing step in the jute export industry. Jute packaging materials were used around the world, particularly in gunny bags.
The Jakku Temple, Simla
Edward Buck in Simla, Past and Present (1925) tells the story of Charles de Russet, son of a local French photographer and merchant. Charles dropped out of the nearby Bishop Cotton School at the age of seventeen.
Bengal Beauty
A classic late 19th century pose, with a three-legged Victorian table, books for the woman to rest her arm on, and painted studio backdrop.
