Ceylon Collection

Poster advertising Air Ceylon -- fly the sapphire service. A man rides on an elephant, while a distant plane flies overhead

Map of Ceylon showing tea industry plantations
Map of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) showing tea industry plantations. Date: circa 1920

Zebras Pull Mazawattee
Four zebras in harness pull a Mazawattee tea cart -- purely for publicity purposes, we understand!

Sri Lanka - Ceylon. Her tea and other industries
A larger version of this uncommon pictorial poster map was originally published by the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board in 1933

Mount Lavinia Hotel, Mount Lavinia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Mount Lavinia Hotel and seashore, Hotel Road, Mount Lavinia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1920

Native stall, Ceylon Sri Lanka, circa 1880s. Date: circa 1880s

Sri Lanka - Geta Beraya and Udekkiya players
Traditional Sri Lankna drums and drummers. The standing player is holding a hill country drum called the Geta Beraya (a drum with a knot)

Standards of British Commonwealth Countries
Borne in the Coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth II: the standards of British Commonwealth countries. Date: 1953

Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1910

Ox-pulled wagon - Lipton Tea Company
Colombo, Sri Lanka - a wagon of the Lipton Ltd. Tea company bearing a mass of wooden tea chests and pulled by a pair of white oxen. Date: circa 1910s

Poster advertising Orient Line to Australia
Poster advertising the Orient Line to Australia, via Italy, Egypt and Ceylon

Sri Lanka - Galle - Galle Face Hotel

Ribbon orchid, Tainia bicornis
Ribbon orchid or dai chun lan shu, Tainia bicornis. Plant sent to orchid collector Reverend John Clowes of Broughton Hall from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Two-horned ania, Ania bicornis

Tamil girl, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) circa 1890. Date: circa 1890

Devil Dancers, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Devil Dancers of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), with drummers. Date: circa 1890s

Sigiriya Rock Fortress, Central Province, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Sigiriya (Sinhagiri) Rock Fortress, Central Province, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), a massive column of rock nearly 200 metres high. Date: circa 1920s

Barrabool - P&O Line (one class only) - England-Egypt-Ceylon (Sri Lanka)-Australia service - twin-screw vessel. Date: circa 1910s

Maidens among clouds. 5th c. SRI LANKA. Sigiriya. Fresco of 500 ladies in the rock wall of the fortress. World Heritage. Hindu art. Fresco

Poster depicting Colombo, Ceylon
Poster for the Empire Marketing Board, depicting dock workers loading and unloading cargo at Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Galle - Sri Lanka
Galle, viewed from the harbour, Sri Lanka. A famous Test cricket ground, Galle was devastated by the Tsunami of 2004. The cricket ground is alongside the Portuguese Fort, rebuilt in the 17th century

SS KARMALA
Passenger liner of the P&O line, depicted entering Columbo harbour, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Young woman tapping a rubber tree, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1910

Great Western Tea Factory, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1920

Temple of the Holy Tooth - Kandy, Sri Lanka
Sri Dalada Maligawa or Temple of the Holy Tooth - Kandy, Sri Lanka - located in the royal palace complex. An UNESCO world heritage site. The Library. Date: circa 1910s

Young man, Ceylon, (Sri Lanka), circa 1880s. Date: circa 1880s

Three girls, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), circa 1880s. Date: circa 1880s

Street vendors, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) circa 1890s. Date: circa 1890s

Stream and bathers, probably Ceylon (Sri Lanka), circa 1880s. Date: circa 1880s

Native Chiefs, Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Native Chiefs at Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1890s

Young woman, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1890s

Young woman at Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1890s

Rickshaw transport, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: circa 1890s

Colombo, Sri Lanka - Native Boutique Date: circa 1920s

Wartime poster, The British Colonial Empire (Ceylon)
Wartime poster, The British Colonial Empire, featuring a member of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery, with the Ceylon badge below, and the names of all the colonial countries listed on either side. 1940s

Tea estate, Sri Lanka
Australian coral tree in a tea estate in Agrapatana, Sri Lanka. Photographed by Harry Taylor

Cocos nucifera L. coconut tree
A drawing by Paul Hermann from the collection of five volumes of specimens and drawings from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) 1672-1677. (Vol. 5 Page 137)

Babyrousa babyrussa, babirusa
Plate 106 from the Loten Collection (1754-57), a painting by Pieter Cornelius de Bevere (1722-c. 1781)

Empire Tea Poster
Empire Marketing Board 1927-1933 poster, Empire Tea Date: 1927-1933

Sri Lanka - Basket Trick - Jugglers
Sri Lanka - Basket Trick - Conjurers (called jugglers on the card) place a woman inside a large wicker basket from whence she would (I imagine) disappear, much to everyones surprise! Date: circa 1907

Kandy - Sri Lanka - Worshipping the tooth relic
Kandy is very popular due to the annual Buddhist pageant known as the Esala Perahera

Kandy - Sri Lanka - Buddhist Procession
Kandy is very popular due to the annual Buddhist pageant known as the Esala Perahera

Advert / Mazawattee Tea
Mazawattee Tea, grown in Ceylon

Mazawattee Advert
A small native boy holds a huge packet of MAZAWATTEE, delicious tea from Ceylon

Kamel Brand Tea
Wrapper for Kamel Brand Ceylon Tea

Galle Face, Ceylon, Sri Lanka
Vintage 19th century photograph: Galle Face, Ceylon, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Catamaran
Catamarans used by the fishermen of Ceylon

Advert for Tsang-Ihang - Perfume 1924
Grossmith's Tsang-Ihang sweet perfume from Thibet, available with toilet cream and face powder. Date: 1924

Advert for Tsang-Ihang - Perfume 1924
Grossmith's Tsang-Ihang sweet perfume from Thibet, also available face powder and toilet cream. Date: 1924

Advert for Wana Ranee - Oriental Fragrance 1920
Oriental Fragrance with a floral extract, available from J. Grossmith & Son, Ltd. Date: 1920

Alfred Hugh Fisher, Vignettes of Empire IV. Ceylon. Labour in Ceylon: coolies clearing a place for a gem-pit on a mountain-side near Ratnapura Date: 1912

HMT (HM Transport Troopship) City of Marseilles for Ellerman Line, launched in 1912, completed in 1913. Damaged by a ine in 1940, wrecked in 1943 off Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Date: 1930s

Isurumuniya Buddhist temple - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Isurumuniya - a Buddhist temple situated near to the Tissa Wewa (Tisa tank) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Built by King Devanampiya Tissa (307 BC to 267 BC) Date: 1924

Indian roller, Coracias benghalensis. East Indian blue jay, Coracias indica. From a specimen brought from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) by John Gideon Loten now in the British Museum

African glossy starling, Lamprotornis species. Lamprocolius. Red and green daw, Coracias bicator, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Flat-stemmed dendrobium, Dendrobium compressum
Flat-stemmed dendrobium orchid, Dendrobium compressum. Native to Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Borneo, Java and Sumatra

Bhat or hill glory bower, Clerodendrum infortunatum. Used in traditional Indian medicine and ayurveda

Rhododendron rollissonii. Variety of tree rhodondendron, Rhododendron arboreum, from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Raised or hybridized by nurseryman William Rollisson of Tooting

Blood-stained dendrobium. Dendrobium sanguinolentum
Blood-stained dendrobium orchid, Dendrobium sanguinolentum. Native to southeast Asia. Sent by Mr. Nightingale from Ceylon to the Duke of Northumberland

Typhonium trilobatum. Three-lobed arum, Arum trilobatum. Native to southern China, Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, introduced from Ceylon in 1752

Rain flower, Pancratium zeylanicum
Rain flower, One-flowered pancratium or sea-daffodil, Pancratium zeylanicum. Native to Ceylon, Sri Lanka, India, drawn at the stove at Spofforth

White-tailed deer, Sri Lankan axis and white-spotted chevrotain
White-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus subsp. cariacou 159, Sri Lankan axis deer, Axis axis ceylonensis 158, and Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain or white-spotted chevrotain, Moschiola meminna 157

True cinnamon tree or Ceylon cinnamon tree, Cinnamomum verum (Laurus cinnamomum). Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Dr

Veddah men with bow and arrow, axe, Ceylon, Sri Lanka, c.1880 s

Lancehead viper, Ceylon pit viper and berg adder
Lancehead, Bothrops atrox 1, Ceylon pit viper, Trimeresurus trigonocephalus 2 and berg adder, Bitis atropos 3. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Plee Jr

Page of Victorian advertisements 1896
A page from The Illustrated London News, dated 11 April 1896, showing three advertisements, for Liptons Teas, Beethams Glycerine and Cucumber preparation, and Mappin & Webbs fitted suit cases

Colombo, Sri Lanka - Lipton Ltd. Tea Company - Maddema Mills - note the ox-pulled tea wagons, each individually numbered (see also: 10296761). Date: circa 1905

Traditional Fishing boat - Galle, Sri Lanka
Traditional catamaran Fishing boat - Galle, Sri Lanka. Date: circa 1910s

Ceylon

Boy in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka boy in the 1920s

The Ceylon Village, The Franco-British Exhibition at White City, London, in 1908

Ladies in Ceylon / Sri Lanka making lace, early 1900s

Lace making, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Veddahs aborigines

Veddahs, forest dwelling aborigines of Sri Lanka, Victorian period

Tea plantation in Ceylon / Sri Lanka - Victorian period

Tea picking in Sri Lanka

YMCA Ceylon Hut, Paddington, London during WW1

Lipton's tea factory at Pooprassie, Sri Lanka, Victorian period

Map of Burma, Assam, Malay Peninsula and Ceylon Date: circa 1910

Poster, Ellerman's City & Hall Lines, Suez Canal scene
Poster, Ellerman's City & Hall Lines to and from Egypt, India, Ceylon - showing the City of Benares on the Suez Canal with the Ferdinand de Lesseps statue in the right background Date: circa 1936

Advert, Blue Cross Pekoe Souchong Tea from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Date: 1891

Advert, Mazawattee Tea Co, 49-51 Eastcheap, London Date: 1891

Lipton's Tea Advertisement
An illustrated advertisement for Lipton Ltd, promoting Lipton's Tea, If you want the best tea, go to the firm that grows it

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