1929 Newman's Great Eastern Hotel Calcutta India Information Booklet Travel Book

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

ITEM : Up for sale is this rare travel brochure or guide book to India from Newman's Great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta. Fron is marked INFORMATION - NEWMAN'S, BY APPOINTMENT TO H.E. THE LORD IRWIN, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA, H.E. SIR STANLEY JACKSON, GOVERNOR OF BENGAL. The booklet measures approx. 4.25 x 7.25 inches and contains 32 pages of information and advertising. Back cover has an engraving of the hotel. Inside info includes 1929-1930 calendar and cricket fixtures, post and travel directory, railway booking, theares, clubs, postal rates, climate info, taxi cab and hackney carriage fares, notes pages, advertising for postcard and other books. Great additiona to your colonial period India collection, nice condition, clean and intact. Info from Wikipedia: The Great Eastern Hotel (officially Lalit Great Eastern Hotel) is a colonial era hotel in the Indian city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). The hotel was established in 1840 or 1841; at a time when Calcutta, the seat of the East India Company, was the most important city in India. Referred to as "the Jewel of the East" in its heyday, Great Eastern Hotel hosted several notable persons visiting the city. After India's independence in 1947, the hotel continued its business but went into decline during the Naxalite era of West Bengal; later the state government took over the management. In 2005 it was sold to a private company and was reopened in November 2013 after an extensive renovation. History The British brought modern hotels to Kolkata. The Oldest was John Spence's Hotel. Spence's, the first ever hotel in Asia was opened to the public in 1830. The Great Eastern Hotel was established in 1840 or 1841 by David Wilson as the Auckland Hotel, named after George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, then Governor General of India. Prior to opening the hotel, Wilson ran a bakery at the same site. The hotel opened with 100 rooms and a department store on the ground floor (Spence's Hotel, established in 1830 but no longer in existence, is considered to be the first major hotel in Calcutta). The Auckland was expanded in the 1860s and its managing company renamed from D. Wilson and Co. to Great Eastern Hotel Wine and General Purveying Co. In 1883, it was electrified, and is thought to be the first such hotel in India. It was also amongst the first to have an Indian on its board of directors, in 1859. It became the Great Eastern Hotel in 1915. During its heyday, the hotel was known variously as the "Jewel of the East" and the "Savoy of the East" and was prosaically described by Kipling in his short story City of Dreadful Night. It was said of the hotel in 1883 that "a man could walk in at one end, buy a complete outfit, a wedding present, or seeds for the garden, have an excellent meal, a burra peg (double) and if the barmaid was agreeable, walk out at the other end engaged to be married". The hotel has housed many famous personalities including Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin, Elizabeth II, Mark Twain, Dave Brubeck, and possibly Ho Chi Minh. Until its closure for restoration in 2005, the hotel was the longest continuously operating hotel in Asia. SHIPPING : Buyer agrees to pay calculated shipping fees. We will gladly combine shipments to help save you postage. We ask that PAYPAL payments are also paid in ONE transfer. Payment is expected in 21-days. Thank you! NOTE: Some images are enlarged to show clarity and details. read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.