Dawn Images

It felt like being transported nearly a century back in time as a collection of postcard images of various landmarks of Pakistan, taken from 1890 to 1947, was projected onto a big screen at Khaliqdina Hall on Sunday evening.

The event was organised to mark the launch of Forgotten Images: Postcards of Pre-Pakistan, 1890-1947, a collection of antique postcards by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, a distinguished art historian, academic, and business executive.

The collection is a coffee table book that paints a vibrant picture of the country’s architectural and cultural landmarks through postcards that provide a rare glimpse into the world that existed before the country’s independence.

Addressing the audience while describing the slides from the book, Aijazuddin said the book is the latest addition to the investigation into the growing genre of deltiology, which is a hobby of collecting postcards.

Explaining the history and significance of postcards, he said they played an important role in the 19th and 20th century, especially as a means of sharing experiences and things that were of interest to the senders and their addressees. For the postcards of pre-partition Pakistan collected in the book, he said those were mostly sent by people to their friends and relatives living abroad.

“And for the general public, the postcard was initially a cost-cutting device. But perhaps the greatest benefit of the postcards was the saving in time they allowed. Before the telephone, it was the quickest, most readily available means of communication, of conveying a quick message,” he explained.

“Though pictorial postcards are now history, their historicity remains. Although replaced, they provide us and future generations of Pakistanis an invaluable record of buildings, landscapes, events and people of a pre-Pakistan era, the crucible from which we came. And to modern collectors, the charm of these postcards are not so much the handwritten, personal messages they conveyed but the images they carried on their reverse,” he said.

He said the sale and purchase of postcards has a sizable market and that he had been collecting the postcards of this book for the past many years.

Aijazuddin then described the book and its chapters. It includes postcards from all provinces and major cities of Pakistan. From Karachi, it has photographs of the historical buildings of the city, seaport and ships, and major roads and markets like Empress Market, the Hindu Gymkhana and Frere Hall to name only a few. From interior Sindh, there are pictures from Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur and Mohenjo Daro, etc.

Then comes Punjab with images of landmarks from Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and Murree, among other cities. Then comes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its cities, mainly Peshawar. That is followed by Balochistan with a focus on Quetta’s pictures.

The event was organised as part of the Reading Room Series at Khaliqdina Hall. It was moderated by Saima Zaidi, who also spoke about the historical significance and architect of the hall and its library.

Originally published in Dawn, December 30th, 2024