The Taj Mahal, Agra
One version of this card, addressed to Miss J. Flint, 124 Belmont Road, Ansfield, Liverpool, has this written on the front: "I wonder whether they will build anything like this over us when we are gone. W.J.O."
Mumbai Bombay
The Connaught Hotel, Poona
The 1902 Guide to Poona (p. 60) had ad ad for this hotel, described as "A Select Hotel for European Gentry, Entirely under new and excellent European management. European Manageress. Home Comforts, Cleanliness, and First Class Cuisine guaranteed.
Marine Drive, Bombay
A nice view that guides the eye up the snaked drive.
This card was postmarked from Bombay on Dec. 11, 1953.
Native Wrestlers
Curiously this view was not one of the more popular Clifton & Co. postcards, one of the first publishers in the city, despite its many scenes and informational value. From the building columns and the firm's location it is likely to be from Bombay.
View of Benares
An early multi-coloured view of Varanasi.
Cotton Pickers
Many early Bombay postcards focused on the cotton trade, the source, with opium, of much of the city's early wealth.
Snake Charmers
Given how ubiquitous the trope of snake charmers and India was in popular Western culture in the early 20th century, it is refreshing to find that they are not as common in postcards as one might expect. True, major publishers like Clifton & Co.
View From Malabar Hill, Bombay
An early keyhole postcard view of Marine Drive, probably from a photograph made in the 1890s.
Fruit Sellers
A gorgeously coloured collotype with the anonymous note on the front: "They are nearly as nice as ruby lips. best."
Rabindranath Tagore
It is hard to over estimate the importance of Rabindranath Tagore at the beginning of the 20th century.
