Dancing Girls
Professional dancing girls were among the most popular early postcard subjects. These two dancing girls are probably from Lucknow as the painting in the studio background on the left recalls the Chutter Manzil in Lucknow.
B & W
Kodaikanal
"Kodaikanal (Kody), though not so quite fashionable as Ooty," wrote Eustace Reynolds Hall in The Tourist's India (1907) "is rapidly coming into favour.
Byculla Club, Bombay
A postcard where the angle and architecture combine effectively to represent the role an institution once played in India's political and social life.
The Kulri, Mussoorie
Clifton's later postcards, especially his candid photographs in the bazaars of Mussoorie, are among his most interesting. There is a blur to man on the right, suggesting this came from a longer-exposure albumen photograph.
An Indian Well
A less-typical image of an "Indian well," with a rugged sloping foreground that reminds the viewer how far beneath water could lie and the messiness of its extraction.
View from Grand Hotel Avenue, Simla
"Cattle borwsed homewards to small hidden hamlets in the valleys, all grew softer and greyer till it was quite dark and the lights came out where she had not thought there was any habitation at all – single lamps here and there in Kasauli, pinpricks
Bunder Wallah or Monkey Man
Sent to R.S. Gibbons, c/o Mrs. N.L. Larler, J.G. Northhampton Road, Addiscombe, Croydon, Surrey, England: "Feb 4th [1919?]. Granny sent you 10/- [shillings] for Xmas. Ask R.M. to give it to you out of the Bank.
A Group of the Maharaja's Elephants
One of the earliest Gobindram Oodeyram postcards, still "court-sized" from a period before the British postal service officially allowed for the larger European standard, two centimeters more in length (14 by 9 cm, though cards of this size
Bikaner Camel Corps, Delhi Coronation Durbar
Bremner made a whole series of postcards of the 1903 Delhi Durbar, and as with many photographers, it was the Camel Corps that caught his camera.
Postmarked "Meean Meer" [Mian Mir, Lahore Cantonment), Nov.
Spearing Fish on the Dhal, Kashmir
The still and clear water of Dal Lake was ideal for catching fish using a spear instead of line, hook and bait. Most families living permanently on boats have small kitchens on board where the fresh catch from the lake is turned into flavored dishes.
