Bohora, Anil (2025)
Book Summary
Postcards were the Instagram of their time. Billions of postcards exchanged hands between 1898 and 1903; for the first time, image and personalized text travelled together much like on digital platforms today...In 1894, Great Britain allowed private postcards smaller in size (Court size: 4.75 x 3.5 inches) than the government issued postcards to pass through postal system. But in India, British-run photographers and publishing houses were already producing postcards in the late 1890s for local audiences. In this case, the edges of Empire were a little ahead of the heartland, and postcards from these publishers started making their way back to Britain, which finally accepted the standard slightly larger European-sized postcard and the "divided back" allowing for messages on the address side of the postcard in 1902. [Extract from the Introduction.]
