A Hindu Musician
A hand-tinted studio postcard using what seem like only three carefully deployed colors - red, green and a hint of yellow or cream on the balustrade. The artistry is in getting the sitar bridges almost right.
Kolkata
Hon'ble Mr. P. Ananda Charlu
Much of the initial Independence struggle was peaceful, led by often hardly remembered Anglicized lawyers like Mr. P.
Pan & Aerated Water Shop, Calcutta
A postcard that reflects how easily Kolkata mixed past and present at the turn of the century. Paan is an ancient cornucopia of spices and nuts wrapped in a betel leaf. Next to it are cooling soda bottles.
Calcutta - Shibjee Fair
An unusually lively postcard with what seem to be wooden full circle swings or spinners common at amusement fairs. What exactly the Shibjee Fare [Fair] was is unclear.
Calcutta - Grand Hotel - Chowringhee
"Vast indeed have been the changes that have occurred in Calcutta during the past few decades," writes Allister Macmillan in Seaports of India and Ceylon, "but none has been more remarkable than that represented by the Grand Hotel, which occupies an
Calcutta 1897
Postmarked May 25, 1898 (?) and addressed to Master Leslie Hurst, 4 Waterlook Road, Nottingham, England: "My dear Leslie I have another p.c. [postcard] for you – Did you go to Gooe fair. It is your fair day today.
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.
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.
