General Post Office, Calcutta
This postcard was sent from Calcutta in April 1905 to Mr. H.G. Squier, "Actg. [Acting?] P. M. [Postmaster?], Manila, P.I. [Philippine Islands]": "4/28/05 Leave today overland by rail to Bombay. Lytton [sp?]."
1900-1909
An Indian Rajah
This unnamed Rajah was a popular postcard subject, in color and black and white. Note how well the image was colorized during the half-tone printing process which had just started to become more widely used for postcards based on photographs.
Shah Alum's Tomb, Ahmedabad
This tomb to one of the most revered of Muslim religious teachers in Gujarat was completed in the late 15th century.
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.
An Indian Bungalow
Postmarked Seapost Office [Bombay] April 1906, received in Manchester April 28, and addressed to Miss. L. Swill [sp?] in Manchester, England with this note on the front: "What price this for a couple."
The Bund, Poona
An almost technicolor-blue tinted collotype. The bund or dam at Pune was one of the most postcarded views from the city. Built by Sir Jamsetjee Jeetbhoy, a Bombay philanthropist, cotton and opium merchant, it was completed in 1869.
Greetings from Calcutta
An early composite postcard, made up of 27 separate images stuffed into the outline of the letters.
A Benares Dancing Girl
Note how nicely the stamp is positioned in line with the woman's arms; according to the so-called "language of stamps" current at the turn of the century, this stamp position might mean the sender is asking "Do you love me?" or even "Your love
A Benares Dancing Girl
When this card was first published from London, The Picture Postcard and Collector's Chronicle, a magazine that catered to collectors, businessmen and and aficionados of the new medium, hailed it as a “a fascinating dancing girl from Benares” (Jan.
A Baluchi Ploughman
A postcard evocative of the hard toil required to plow fields given the upturned rocky soil. Note the large dog crouching on the right behind the farmer.
