Real Photo

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,

A clever advertising postcard from what what Bombay's leading bookseller and major postcard publisher at the turn of the century.

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 unusual real photo postcard that is both hand colored and has glitter finely applied to the hems of the woman's dress. She is resting her arm on a magnificent pedestal that suggests a north Indian studio, possibly in Lucknow.