India Through The Postcard

Introduction

Picture postcards occupy a crucial position in the postal and visual history of India. Emerging at the intersection of colonial administration, commercial printing, and expanding postal networks, postcards were both utilitarian objects of communication and instruments of representation. In the Indian subcontinent, the development of the picture postcard coincided with the consolidation of imperial postal systems and the rise of mass visual culture between the late nineteenth century and the Second World War.

British India

Early Adoption and Postal Regulations

Postcards were officially introduced in British India on 1 July 1879, following earlier experiments in Austria-Hungary and Britain. Initially, only plain government postcards were permitted, printed and sold by the Indian Post Office. Illustrated or privately produced postcards were not allowed for postal transmission until regulatory changes in the 1890s.

The decisive shift occurred in 1898, when the Indian Post Office formally permitted privately printed postcards, provided they adhered to size, layout, and message restrictions. This regulatory change catalysed the emergence of the picture postcard industry in India.

Production and Publishing Centres

The majority of early picture postcards depicting India were:

• Printed in Europe (notably Germany, Britain, and Austria)

• Commissioned by Indian publishers, booksellers, or photographers

• Often distributed through colonial urban centres such as Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lahore, and Simla

German chromolithography dominated postcard production until the outbreak of the First World War, after which British and Indian printers increasingly filled the gap.

Common publishers included:

• Bourne & Shepherd (photographic origins)

• Higginbotham & Co.

• Thacker, Spink & Co.

• Raphael Tuck & Sons (UK-based but India-focused series)

Bund Gardens Shewing Bundstand. Poona.

Art: Unknown | Print: G.B.V. Ghoni, Bombay | Germany | 1900

Postal Usage and Rates

Picture postcards in British India were subject to the same postal tariffs as plain postcards:

• ¼ anna inland rate (later revised)

• Higher rates for foreign destinations, depending on UPU agreements

Key postal features of interest include:

• Divided-back postcards (officially allowed from 1905)

• Field Post Office usage during military campaigns

• Railway Travelling Post Office (RMS) cancellations

• Early airmail endorsements on late colonial cards

Thematic and Administrative Significance

Postcards served as visual records of:

• Imperial architecture and urban planning

• Ethnographic “types” and occupational studies

• Railways, ports, and infrastructure

• Princely states and durbar ceremonies

French India

Postal Markings and Routes

Postal historians value French India postcards for:

• Distinctive French colonial cancellations

• Maritime mail routes via Colombo or Marseille

• Dual usage in Indo-French correspondence

Cards sent within India but originating from French territories often demonstrate complex routing, reflecting overlapping imperial postal sovereignties.

Portuguese India

Portuguese India—primarily Goa, Daman, and Diu—maintained a conservative and highly regulated postal system. Picture postcards appeared later and in smaller quantities compared to British India.

Postcards adhered to:

• Portuguese postal formats

• Denominations in reis and escudos

• Regulations defined by Lisbon rather than local authorities

Production and Distribution

Most picture postcards of Portuguese India were:

• Printed mostly in Portugal

• Issued by colonial presses or Catholic institutions

• Photographically restrained, often architectural or ecclesiastical

Subjects commonly included:

• Churches and convents

• Administrative buildings

• Riverfronts and harbours

• Catholic religious processions

Commercial postcard publishing was limited, making genuinely used examples scarcer.

India Through The Postcard Collection

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