The Burning Ghat, Benares
Among the earliest postcards of Varanasi, this court-sized card was made from an albumen photograph (its title is still inscribed in the negative) and framed by a floral design.
Kolkata
Palm Avenue, Botanical Gardens, Calcutta.
[Original caption] The Royal Botanical Gardens on the west bank of the river, were founded in 1780 on the suggestion of Colonel Kyd, and have been of more service to public and private gardens of the world than any other horticultural institute.
Charpoy Weavers
There are not that many postcards showing the charpai [charpoy], a ubiquitous feature of Indian life, defined in Hobson-Jobson (1903, p.
Shipping on the Hooghly
An example of how the earliest postcards of a place were often design masterpieces. Note how the palm tree merges with the ship masts, and nautical rope and elements carefully surround the whole frame.
Calcutta Coolies
[Original caption] Calcutta Coolies. The Coolies of Calcutta, otherwise porters or carriers, are men of fine physique, and are able to carry exceptionally heavy weights supported on their heads.
Office Peon
The word "peon" owes its origin to the Spanish word which means laborer.
Calcutta
Kalighat - Burning Ghat - Nautch Girl - Kali
One of the earliest "Greetings from Calcutta" postcards, by the German or Austrian photographer Werner Roessler who was based in the city and had the lithographic card printed in Austria from his
The Museum, Calcutta
The ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest in India, what is now known as the Indian Museum Kolkata was started in 1814 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A Danish botanist, Nathaniel Wallich, is considered its founder.
The Roberts Statue, Calcutta
From the earliest Tuck's Kolkata postcard series, when the firm did not print its later standard captions on the back of each card.
The Pontoon Bridge on the Hooghly. Calcutta.
The pontoon bridge that bound the railway station and other sites on the farther bank of the Hooghly river to the main city in the foreground (it was replaced in the late 1930s by the iron Howrah Bridge). While this postcard was likely from a
