A very early Higginbotham's postcard, with the back blind stamped "Post Card" instead of printed (or electrotyped). The image is also very small, not merely to leave room for writing but because that is where most of the expense was, in the ink and
[Original caption] The Waziris are a native race inhabiting the north-west frontier of India - the province immediately next to Afghanistan.
[Original caption] Commenced in 1637 and completed in 1648 A.D. by the Emperor Shahjehan. Wonderful Building in the world [end]
A standard view of the Taj, but one which manages to capture the uplifting whiteness of the marble better than most.
One of the earlier firmly dateable postcards by H.A. Mirza & Sons, the Chandni Chowk photography firm which was to become the dominant Delhi and northern Indian postcard publisher by 1905.
Postmarked Jaipur November 22, 1903 and Chicago Dec.
[Original caption] Bombay-Poona Mail. The magnificent train which carries His Majesty's mails between these two towns on the Great Indian Penninsular Railway is one of the finest trains in the British Empire. [end]
Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar, an early Hindu reformer and political leader, was born in Karnataka in 1855. He later became vice-chancellor of the University of Bombay where he spent most of his life working as a Justice, activist and reformer.
The word "Dhangar" owes its origin to the Sanskrit word "Dhenu" (cow), and apparently refers to a caste of people associated with herding primarily in Maharashtra, but also throughout India.
An early "Greetings from" postcard of Darjeeling by its premiere early photographer Thomas Paar. Clare Harris in her excellent book Photography and Tibet (Reaktion, 2016) "deconstructs" the figure on the left, whom she correctly calls a 'poster boy'
Taraporevala & Sons was the premiere Bombay bookstore and publisher, stock full of 19th century illustrated magazines and images eagerly bought and saved in trunks by artists like Ravi Varma as inspiration.
[Original caption] Wellawatta Canal. The length of the island of Colombo is 270 miles, its width 140 miles, an area about four-fifths the size of Ireland.
