An Indian Road Scene, Putiya, Rajshahi, Bengal
Very few pre-Partition postcards exist of what was then East Bengal, and is today Bangladesh.
Very few pre-Partition postcards exist of what was then East Bengal, and is today Bangladesh.
Knife grinders are a vanishing craft. Doing this at home before electric knife sharpeners was difficult. Knife grinders would take their sharpening wheels from door to door and take care of the problem.
An earlier postcard view, before divided backs
One can see the rapid transformation of the postcard from a time when messages where only allowed on the front, as in this card.
This postcard was sent from Calcutta in April 1905 to Mr. H.G. Squier, "Actg. [Acting?] P. M. [Postmaster?], Manila, P.I. [Philippine Islands]": "4/28/05 Leave today overland by rail to Bombay. Lytton [sp?]."
This unnamed Rajah was a popular postcard subject, in color and black and white. Note how well the image was colorized during the half-tone printing process which had just started to become more widely used for postcards based on photographs.
This tomb to one of the most revered of Muslim religious teachers in Gujarat was completed in the late 15th century.
Clifton & Co., the first big Bobby-based publisher had numerous versions of this card. This keyhole-style view – a briefly popular postcard type – works well with the curve of what is now Marine Drive opening out towards the waters of Back Bay.
An Italian fantasy art card from the 1920s.
The Victoria Memorial of Kolkata was constructed between 1906 and 1921. Note the fine juxtaposition of the cow grazing and the statue of the horse being ridden by Edward VII above the gateway.
Nirad Chaudhuri describes, in his youth, how the
As competition among postcard publishers intensified between 1905 and 1910, each tried to outdo the other with new formats offered by the German printers who served much of the Indian market.