Phatani Begging Woman
Women are often shown as dancers, rarely this elderly as beggars on postcards. This photograph was likely taken in a studio, with the woman sitting on a stone which might be covered with animal skins.
Women are often shown as dancers, rarely this elderly as beggars on postcards. This photograph was likely taken in a studio, with the woman sitting on a stone which might be covered with animal skins.
A rare visit by the Prince of Wales to the edges of Empire; note the car in the foreground and mid-ground. Edward VIII later gained notoriety for abdicating in 1936 after choosing to marry a divorced America woman, Wallis Simpson.
A rich bazaar view by a little known publisher once based in Peshawar whose wide variety of postcards of Punjab and NWFP is possibly unrivaled in the region during the early 20th century. Moorli Dhur & Sons of Amballa, and H.A.
An early real photo postcard of a post office with signs indicating the schedule for mail coming from England. Sir Malcolm Darling wrote about the importance of this mail when he was a young I.C.S.
The great Hindi/Urdu writer Munshi Premchand describes, from the point-of-view of Suman, the heroine of his first novel Sevasadan, the complex view she has of Bholi, a courtesan living across the street from her:
"Suman had never met any courtesans,
Kamaladevi Chattopadhaya was born into an intellectual family in Mangalore on the west coast of India.
A clever advertising postcard from what what Bombay's leading bookseller and major postcard publisher at the turn of the century.
A melange of green, ink, red and yellow masterfully applied to a real photograph.
A postcard probably taken during the 3rd Afghan War in 1919 on the border between British India and Afghanistan; the battery was not far from camp shown in the background.
A skillfully done studio shot with real depth of field provided by the seating arrangement and sparse use of green, pink and white with a dash of glitter.