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

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

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

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)

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

Sri Lanka - Galle - Galle Face Hotel

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

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

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

Advert / Mazawattee Tea
Mazawattee Tea, grown in Ceylon

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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, in which one of the inner caskets used for covering the tooth relic of Buddha is taken in a grand procession

Kandy - Sri Lanka - Buddhist Procession
Kandy is very popular due to the annual Buddhist pageant known as the Esala Perahera, in which one of the inner caskets used for covering the tooth relic of Buddha is taken in a grand procession

Kamel Brand Tea
Wrapper for Kamel Brand Ceylon Tea

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

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

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

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

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

Sri Lanka Catamaran
Catamarans used by the fishermen of Ceylon

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

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

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

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

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