The famous Indian singer Gohar Jan, queen of early LP recordings and the first Indian artist to be recorded on gramophone on November 2, 1902. Born in Azamgarh, north India as Angelina Yeoward in 1873 she became the most famous nautch girl and singer
Another Dhurandhar postcard that captures the essence and humour of a telegraph peon using a bicycle to rush to his destination.
This finely lithographed card by Clifton & Co. was one of the their most popular images, and produced in multiple black and white formats. Originally from a photograph, this colored version would have required multiple print runs.
An early Italian or French postcard celebrating or advertising the city of Bombay. It also features a bicycle, then becoming popular in the city.
Note the rich character on this man's face in an image by M.V. Dhurandhar, one of India's most exceptional and prolific early 20th century painters and postcard artists.
Sent to Master E.
Another exuberant, deftly rendered very early postcard by Paul Gerhardt, chief lithographer at the Ravi Varma Press in Bombay. Note the simply drawn mosque minarets, the colors that pull you in while the cart pushes out into the foreground space.
[Original caption] Abdul Rehman Street, Bombay. This is one of the busiest spots in the city of Bombay and also one of the principal native streets. [end]
Note the building under construction on the right.
Parsis in India originally came from Iran (Persia), and Parsi ladies were among the first Indian women to have had an active public life, no doubt helped by a high literacy rate in the community (there is a postcard or letter in the woman's hand).
The bhistee or water carrier was a critical support to urban life before running water became widespread and reliable, and is one of the most frequent postcard subjects.
When this postcard was published in 1899, the BMC building as it has come to be known across of Victoria Terminus railway station had been open barely six years.
