A Fruit Seller, Madras
A very finely hand-tinted postcard, with the indigo closely fitting the cloth, one arm balancing a basket of fruit on the seller's head, the other reaching out to the viewer with a bright red sample.
Chennai Madras
A Group of Schoolgirls
A wonderfully hand-tinted postcard by Spencer & Co., with its signature red used with great balance across the girl's clothing. The jewelry makes one wonder whether some of them are really school girls.
Postmarked Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2/11/1907 and sent
Palms, Chepauk, Madras
A moody image in sepia of palm trees in the Chepauk district of Chennai.
[Verso] “Madras. 27.12.13. On the run again this time Madras Bombay Karachi Lahore Calcutta Rangoon.
A Water Carrier, Madras
Today goatskins, pigskins and earthen pitchers have given way to plastic jars and bottles and huge, lumbering dripping water tankers that supplement inadequate piped water supplies in towns and cities throughout South Asia.
Kolar Gold Field - Champion Reef Mine
The world's second deepest gold mine near Bangalore. Gold had long been known in the area, but it was only after the application of new engineering methods that size-able finds in the 1880s justified larger investments.
The Coolest Place in the House.
A postcard that sums up the fantasy of colonial life for Europeans. The dog resting by the tub is to Indians most unhygienic, but to Europeans the ultimate Raj bathroom accessory.
Puri, Temple
The Shree Jagannath Temple was built about 900 years ago; this court-sized postcard from around 1900 is likely to be among the very earliest from the Indian state of Odisha. The temple is also the source of the English word "juggernaut."
According to
Mahamakam Festival, Kumbakonum
One of those postcards with the densest concentration of human life per square centimeter on them.
Moore Market, Madras
A daub of red anchors the eye in this fine composition. Moore Market was opened in 1900, and destroyed by a mysterious fire in 1985, after which the land was repurposed for the Chennai Suburban Railway station.
Basket Bazaar, Madras
The basket bazaar of Madras was renowned for its beautiful wicker work and offered many kinds of basket weavers a platform to show their craft and sell a wide variety of goods.
