Raj Photography Books

Books primarily about photography in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Afghanistan between 1848 and 1947.

Lucknow: City of Illusion

Lucknow City of Illusion
Author:
Publisher: Prestel Publishing (2006)
Binding: Hardcover, 295 pages

A gorgeous book on 19th century photography, about the most well-photographed and interesting city that became part of British India and the geographic heart of Raj photography. The book features superb essays and spectacular photogems by Felix Beato, John Sache and other photographers of the period.Read more

Reverie and Reality

Reverie and Reality
Author: Sophie Gordon, Omar Khan, John Falconer
Publisher: Fine Arts Museum Of San Francisco (2006)
Binding: Hardcover, 188 pages

Since its invention in the 1840s, photography has been used to record images of exotic locales. At the time, these photographs provided a glimpse of the world to a curious public, few of whom could ever hope to visit those places. In Reality and Reverie, a visual history of nineteenth-century India unfolds in an exhibition of 112 vintage photographs,Read more

Tropical Aracadia: Early Photography in Ceylon

Early Photography in Ceylon
This exhibition catalog for the 2009-2010 exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in Berlin has some nice pictures, especially by Charles Scowen, who is is slowly being recognized as one of the finest Raj photographers despite so little biographical information.Read more

Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital, 1936-1947

Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital, 1936-1947
Author: Elizabeth Edwards, Tsering Sharkya, Clare Harris
Publisher: Serindia Publications (2003)
Binding: Paperback, 176 pages

A collection of photographs of one of the last areas in South Asia photographed in the early 19th century. These largely amateur photographs taken by British visitors are glimpses of a world and way of life that have changed enormously; the book also includes material originally taken on film.Read more

From Bombay to Shanghai

From Bombay to Shanghai
Author: John Falconer, Steven Wachlin, Anneke Groeneveld
Publisher: Museum fur Volkenkude, Rotterdam, 1995
Binding: Softcover, 112 pages

One of the first books to explore photography in Southeast Asia was published in connection with an exhibition at the Museum of Ethnology in Rotterdam, Holland in 1994.Read more

Murree A Glimpse Through the Forest

Murree A Glimpse Through the Forest
Author: Virgil Miedema
Publisher: Amur Maple Books, 2002
Binding: Hardcover, 210 pages

One wishes many more such books existed, covering all the hillstations in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Full of excellent photographs by Craddock, Burke, Thomas Winter, as well as color engravings and postcards of the biggest of the Raj hillstations in Pakistan, the entire work is tasteful and informative.Read more

Portraits in Princely India: 1700-1947

Portraits in Princely India: 1700-1900
Author: Rosie Llewellyn-Jones
Publisher: Marg Publications (2008)
Binding: Hardcover, 132 pages

Another princely India volume makes one wonder when an album of unknown Indians from the 19th century will be published. An album of assorted types without name, pedigree and other enticements for a photographer, no chance of controlling the outcome.Read more

On Service in India

On Service in India: The Mein Family Photographs 1870-1901
Author: Peter Duckers
Publisher: Tempus (2000)
Binding: Paperback, 96 pages

A nice collection of photographs, many by John Burke of the Second Afghan War, from a prominent British Indian family collection. Full of interesting biographical facts and images.Read more

The People of India

People of India"
A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan

Compiled and Edited by J. Forbes Watson & J. W. Kaye.

This work, originally commissioned by the Government of India, is one of the great photographic books of the Nineteenth Century.Read more

Painted Photographs

Painted Photographs: Coloured Portraiture in India
Author: Ebrahim Alkazi
Publisher: Mapin Publishing (2008)
Binding: Paperback, 88 pages

This slim and beautiful catalogue is packed with 60 extraordinary full-page images. They reveal something of the specific genius of Indian photography: colorization.Read more

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