Bon Voyage! Travel Posters of the Edwardian Era

9 3/4" x 10 1/2" 0114402612. Unread, unmarked. This is an excellent

9 3/4" x 10 1/2" 0114402612. Unread, unmarked. This is an excellent collection featuring reproductions of the handbills and posters used by the railroads and steamships of England and the London Underground in the first decade of the twentieth century. Bon Voyage! features reproductions of sixty full-color travel posters taken directly from the archives of late Victorian and Edwardian advertising material held in the Public Record Office at Kew in England. These posters are a mini-history of an age when travel for pleasure had begun to take hold in almost every section of society. They offer a glimpse of where people went, how they traveled, how they dressed for travel, and how the rail and shipping companies regarded their passengers and what amenities they provided. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, railways had spread over the landscape of England and Europe, as well as America. Travel to other cities, long the domain of the rich and upper classes, were suddenly affordable to the middle class. The railway barons, in their effort to make money, began to advertise trips to, what must have seemed, exotic places. Steamships had also began to offer excursions and these companies also started advertising. Using the graphic artists of the day, such as William Tomkin and John Henry Llyod, these posters offer a genuine look at the culture of the times. What these artists evoked was a feeling one got when traveling to a destination serviced by the rail and ship companies. These posters became, in the words of Arnold Bennett, "the visible symbol of pleasure, adventure and romance." This is a fascinating book for those interested in the history of poster design, buffs of railways or steamships, travel enthusiasts and those nostalgic for a different era.; 80 pages.