Railway Porter
Like the backs of many Dhurandhar cards, this one bears the blind stamp and price ["A.H.W. Rs. 0-1-0," e.g. 1 anna] of A.H. Wheeler & Co., at 47 Hornby Road, the bookstall chain and contractor for advertising on Indian Railways.
People
A Mountain Cottage, Kashmir
This may be the very cottage where Bremner had an indelible experience. He writes in his autobiography “I never spent such a night. The melting snow was trickling on to the bed through apertures in the ceiling.
Canal Scene, Narsapur Taluq
An unusual embossed scene, likely in Andhra Pradesh, where the frame contrasts nicely with the blue canal. Produced by a missionary organization, probably to raise money or advertise their activities in India.
Group of Mogul Empresses
Although the women do look somewhat similar in this set of a dozen Mughal Empresses, they can be identified individually thanks to the Urdu captions beneath each: [From Top Left to Top Right, First Row] Jamila Khatoon W/o [Wife of] Muhammad Mirza,
Water Carrier, Chumba
The Princely State of Chamba appeared on few postcards during the Raj even though its rulers seemed to have good relationships with a number of Punjab-based photographers, including Fred Bremner and John Burke.
His Photo
An unusual card which shows a woman, presumably a dancer, looking at the the photograph of a man, a self-reflexive trope that may or may not be recognized by us, who hold the postcard in our hands.
Charpoy Weavers
There are not that many postcards showing the charpai [charpoy], a ubiquitous feature of Indian life, defined in Hobson-Jobson (1903, p.
Punkha Boy
A key figure in the Raj was the punkha boy or man, who pulled the string that moved a fan in a bar or in the sleeping quarters to keep their employers cool.
The Gorgeous East Mounting a Royal Tusker
An early painted postcard, part of a series commemorating the 1903 Delhi Durbar but abstracted to something broader as "The Gorgeous East" series; note the water in the background which likely would not have been part of the Delhi Durbar.
A Kuchi Family
Occasionally, nomads — those most fleeting of human subjects and least sedentary inhabitants of our planet—were caught on a postcard.
