MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM DOCUMENTING LIFE IN CUTTACK, INDIA

[Original photographs], [1951]. Collection of 85 original snapshot photographs documenting life in the city of Cuttack, in the state of Odisha, eastern India, taken by a British engineer on secondment. The majority measuring 8.7 x 6.2cm (with a few smaller), displayed across six thick-card pages, loosely corner-mounted both recto and verso, most with captions in ink or pencil beneath. Contained within a contemporary black cloth ring binder for the engineering firm Woods of Colchester (30 x 25.5cm). There is a minor nick to edge of a couple of photographs, otherwise they are excellent condition, remaining clean and sharp. An unusual collection of photographs providing a window into life in Cuttack, India in 1951, including images of Circuit House (headquarters of the British administration), local people, such as policemen and a coconut vendor, street scenes including rickshaws, bicycles, and wagons, a police station, cinema, jail, and the shop front of 'H. Bilimoria & Co.' (captioned "best shop in main street"), as well as river scenes, group shots at the Cuttack Country Club, including three with the Rajah of Dhenkanal, and several images of the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves (formerly Cuttack caves), near Bhubaneswar, the Lingaraj temple, and views taken en-route to and at Puri and the Bay of Bengal. The photographs were presumably taken by a British engineer working in the city, as several record the ceremonial unveiling of the "first Indian built refrigerator", as well as other work taking place at the 'Kalinga Refrigeration' company's factory.

An interesting group.