View From Malabar Hill, Bombay
An early keyhole postcard view of Marine Drive, probably from a photograph made in the 1890s.
Bombay Mumbai
Town Hall Asiatic Society
An early view of what is now The Asiatic Society. John Murray's Handbook for Travelers in India Burma and Ceylon (1938) has this description of what was once the Town Hall:
"The Town Hall, designed by Col. T.
Parsee Priest
A curious and perhaps not inadvertent confrontation between a Parsi priest and Queen Victoria, he seems to be asking her for something.
Fruit Sellers
A gorgeously coloured collotype with the anonymous note on the front: "They are nearly as nice as ruby lips. best."
Gateway of India, Showing Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay
A rare Tuck's "Real Photograph" postcard of India, which they seem to have offered in response to the market around the 1930s. The Mexican writer Octavio Paz describes the scene in 1951 when he first approached Bombay by ship:
"An arch of stone
Elphinstone Bombay
Among the earliest postcards of Bombay from a photograph. One can see the title and photographer inscribed at the bottom of the original glass negative, and the hand-tinting is done in large blocks.
A Knife Grinder
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
Knife Grinder
One can see the rapid transformation of the postcard from a time when messages where only allowed on the front, as in this card.
View From Malabar Hill, Bombay
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.
A Village Scene
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.
