Jaffna Tamil, Ceylon
An artfully placed stamp gives this card additional character.
People
Native Soldier
Another striking portrait by the great Indian artist M.V. Dhurandhar (1867-1944). This one was sent in 1905 by an Indian postcard collector, probably in Bombay, who pursued his hobby in a way that gives insight into early collector's fine tastes:
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Female Spinning, Jaipur
A popular Jaipur postcard shows a woman spinning cotton in front of a traditional door.
Kashmir beauty
An unusual coloured collotype by Kashmir's premiere postcard publisher. The pink seems to billow both outward from the frame and upward to the woman's face.
The Ruling Princes of India
A collage which would have been assembled from a variety of photographs, not a single sitting. In the bottom center with the black jacket is the Nawab of Hyderabad, the richest of them all.
A Mendicant
The term mendicant refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely on charity to survive. Plate & Co.
Native Barber
Among the first postcards printed in India, from a lithograph by The Ravi Varma Press' chief lithographer, Paul Gerhardt.
Nestle's Swiss Milk 20th Punjab Infantry
Nestle, founded in 1867, claims on its website that its relationship with India started in 1912. Cards like this from approximately 1900 are evidence that the roots of this relationship extend back earlier.
Office Peon
The word "peon" owes its origin to the Spanish word which means laborer.
India
This 1892 Singer Manufacturing Co. advertising card for its sewing machines is probably the very first postcard of India, even if technically it was an ad card and not meant to be mailed with a stamp and address visible on the back.
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