Bombay Police
A rare lithograph from 1907 or beyond. Note the British policeman in side profile, the local constable saluting him. They are nearly the same height. The background reveals itself to be a cutout of the city, the policeman's terrain.
People
Sardar Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh, who was hung in a Lahore jail on March 23, 1931 is the subject of continuing dispute in Lahore. Motions have been filed to name what is now a traffic chowk after Bhagat Singh. From The Times of India story: "Bhagat Singh Memorial
A Mountebank
A curious case of an Italian word finding itself stamped upon a postcard of a characteristic type in India (the fakir, in this case a mendacious one). Mountebank is an old word for a charlatan, or salesman of quack medicines.
Watching the Pageant, Delhi
[Original caption, Verso] “Watching the Pageant, Delhi. The great Delhi Durbar is known by means of the vernacular press to the inhabitants of the remotest parts of India.
Result of an Intrusion
A interesting very early lithographic card from Bombay by the little-known city artist/publisher W. Cooper, who seems to have specialized in the risque postcard (the same woman seems to be the model for A Trysting Place). Two things are particularly
Hindoo Ayahs
An early court-sized card made from an albumen photograph with the studio inscribed in the glass negative at the bottom.
Hobson-Jobson defines "AYAH, s. A native lady's-maid or nurse-maid.
A Jaipur Sardar
Seated on a horse, this Jaipur Sardar wears a traditional dress and looks very bored indeed.
Rickshaw Mussoorie. Dandy Mussoorie.
A very unusual early split-screen postcard by Julian Rust, "Art Photographer," which combines collotype images with the ornate decorative flourish of lithographic postcards. Hobson-Jobson (1903, p.
A Buddhist Priest, Ceylon
An unusual keyhole view by Plate & Co. The top part of the front of the card could also have been used for a message. Plate's Art Card series was distinguished for its rich use of color on a slightly embossed or corrugated halftone surface.
Jeypore. The Chowk and Hawa Mahal
[Original caption] The Chowk and Howa Mahal. This is a picturesque and animated scene. The inhabitants of Jeypore are a busy people, and their bazaars are generally crowded.
