Calcutta
[Original] Durga - Great Eastern Hotel - Telegraph Office - Snake Charmers [end]
A card from the earliest known series of Calcutta postcards by the Austrian photographer W.
before 1900
Snake Charmer
Snake charmers are one of the most common early Indian postcard subjects, and this must be one of the earliest and most beautiful such views. Note the clever use of the palm backdrop to create the illusion of depth, and the rich use of red.
View of Ootacamund
Most big Madras studios and retailers had branches in Ooti, among them Wiele & Klein, publisher of this very early court-sized view, possibly the earliest of the hillstation.
Greetings from John Hagenbeck & Co.
[Original German translated] Buy tea from Hagenbeck's Ceylon Tea.
The main driver of Sri Lanka’s economic growth during the colonial period was the tea industry.
A Tamil Lady
A very early Higginbotham's postcard, with the back blind stamped "Post Card" instead of printed (or electrotyped). The image is also very small, not merely to leave room for writing but because that is where most of the expense was, in the ink and
The Tatschali Line in Bombay
Handwritten on the back is this message: "Bombay, March 3, 1903: “Dear little General. This is a picture of the native portion of this city – we do not dare go in it because there are so many cases of plague.
State Elephant
In India, elephants are revered as symbols of wisdom and good luck. Once it was common to find elephants on the roads of Mumbai.
Bakshis Saheb
A very early postcard printed in India and signed by the Ravi Varma Press chief lithographer and also painter, Paul Gerhardt. The title "Bakshis[h] Saheb" refers to the call for alms made by beggars.
In the Mosque of Machii-Kaman
Possibly the earliest postcard of Hyderabad, by the Austrian artist Josef Hoffman who painted this scene during a visit to India in 1893-94 when he was in his sixties.
Ganges Pagoda
[Original] Souvenir East Indies Pagode des Ganges [end]
Among the earliest postcard series of India, with postally used samples dating back to 1897, according to Ratnesh Mathur, co-author of Picturesque India. Interestingly this is a crude halftone
