Railway original vintage posters for sale

Vintage and original railways posters

The railway industry was the biggest commissioner of illustrated posters. They typically promoted its vast network that kept expanding over the course of the century resulting in thousands of stations, each with a destination in need of promotion. From the Puy Mary in the Mount of Cantal to the suburbs of Baghdad, dozens of railway companies were fighting to pack their carriages with keen travelers. In France the PLM (Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean), the Paris-Orléans which acquired the Midi line to become the PO-Midi, the Eastern, Western and Northern Railway Companies and the International Sleeping-Car company competed for half a century to get a share of France’s growing trainline market. The pioneering studios of François Hugo d’Alési hosted artists such as Julien Lacaze, Constant Duval, Roger Broders, Pierre Commarmond, Paul Emile Champeix, Charles Hallo (Alo) advertised the charms of the French terroir one train station at a time until almost every town had their own poster. During the 1920s, the art-deco movement was reflected in the style of many posters of this time with purple shadows, sun-kissed red, orange and tawny colours being fashionable. The Japanese influence of Henri Rivière became the signature of the Brittany school. Every train station in France was an opportunity for companies to compete through the successive spring/summer and autumn/winter campaigns. Waiting rooms, platform shelters and halls were all fitted with standardised poster billboards for which the French state collected taxes under the 1881 law that regulated the right to post and advertise. Everyone could now enjoy the pleasure of 1st, 2nd and 3rd class comfort for the price of a ticket. In the 1890s, posters sung the praise of spending winter in Nice, Biarritz or the Bay of Arcachon. Spas and mountain resorts became national landmarks in a time that encouraged hedonistic pastimes as a way of life. Brittany was now a train ride away and Brest, which was previously only accessible by stagecoach, was now connected by the western railway company. The French terroir was now for all to see and enjoy, with its charming towns, bustling cities and picturesque villages, the racing tracks of the Gulf of Morbihan or the Saint-Malo city ramparts. At the turn of the century the whole of France was seemingly invited overnight to visit the beaches of Trestrignel and Dinard. Fix Masseau and Joseph de la Nézière were illustrating an even more exotic dream, the Orient-Express that would take you to Mesopotamia and the Middle-East. Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Libya were now but a train-ride away or could be reached with a boat-and-train end-to-end ticket. The exotic East was now on Europe’s doorstep, with countries better known for their flowers and honey, archeological wonders, ancient history, sciences and mysterious tales were expertly invoked by artists such as d'Aboville, known as Dabo, the British Augustus Osborne Lamplough who painted the Nile in Aswan or the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Japan was also regularly portrayed with its countryside and modern railways at a time when posters were also widely used for diplomatic purposes. Propaganda was never far away.

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Original vintage travel poster Simplon-Orient-Express - Athens - Joseph de la Nézière - 42.52 by 30.71 inches
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Vintage travel poster by Joseph de la Nézière from 1926 -...

Original vintage travel poster by Joseph de la Nézière, 1926, Simplon-Orient-Express - Athens - London - Calais - Paris - Dijon - Lausanne - Milan - Venice - Trieste - Belgrade - Sofia - Constantinople - Bucharest

Printed by Lucien Serre & Co., Paris

Print type: Lithograph

Dimensions: 42.52 in × 30.71 in

Linen backed

Condition: A

Price €7,000.00
Original vintage travel poster Evian - Lake Geneva - PLM - De Gauvain - Circa 1905 - 40.55 by 29.13 inches
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Vintage travel poster by De Gauvain Circa 1910 - Evian - Lake...

Original vintage travel poster by De Gauvain, circa 1910, Evian - Lake Geneva - PLM - Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée

Printed by: Prieur et Dubois & Cie in Puteaux

Printing method: Chromolithography

Dimensions: 40.6 in x 29.1 in

Linen-backed

Condition: A

Price €3,000.00
Original vintage travel poster Briançon - Route des Alpes - France - PLM - Geo François - 41.73 by 30.31 inches
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Vintage travel poster by Geo François from 1927 - Briançon - Route...

Original vintage travel poster by Geo François, 1927, Briançon - Route des Alpes - France - PLM - coach stopover inn on the Route des Alpes in the Briançonnais, Queyras and Vallouise

Printed by: Lucien Serre & Cie, Paris

Type of print: Lithography

Dimensions: 41.73 x 30.31 in

Linen backed

Condition: A

Price €3,000.00
Original vintage poster Excursions in Brittany - France - The Château de Fougères - Circa 1920 - 41.34 by 28.74 inches
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Vintage travel poster by Henry de Renaucourt Circa 1920 -...

Original vintage travel poster by Henry de Renaucourt, circa 1920, Excursions in Brittany - France - The Château de Fougères, State Railways

Printed by: Imprimeries Gaillac-Monrocq & Co.

Printing method: Lithography

Dimensions: 41.34 in × 28.74 in

Linen backed

Condition: A

Price €1,000.00
Original vintage poster Evian PLM - Tanconville - Circa 1895 - 42.13 by 30.31 inches
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Vintage poster by Tanconville Circa 1895 - Evian PLM

Original vintage poster created by Tanconville, circa 1895, Evian PLM – Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée Railway

Printed by: Imprimeries Courmont Frères

Printing method: Lithography

Dimensions: 42.13 in × 30.31 in

Linen-backed

Condition: A+

Price €4,000.00
Original vintage travel poster Saint-Palais-sur-mer Environs de Royan - Roger Soubie - Circa 1930 - 41.34 by 29.33 inches
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Vintage travel poster by Roger Soubie Circa 1930 -...

Original vintage travel poster realised by Roger Soubie Circa 1930, Saint-Palais-sur-mer Environs de Royan

Printed by : Daude Frères

Print type : Lithograph

Size : 41.34 x 29.33 inches

Linenbacked

Condition : A

Price €4,000.00
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