A postcard history of the passenger liner

About this book

From around 1880 for almost 100 years, shipowners commissioned a wealth of paintings that depicted, as well as their magnificent liners, the routes they travelled, their exotic destinations, and life on board. These paintings, rich in imagination and atmosphere, appeared on posters and postcards to advertise the companies and their ships; and so was born a whole genre that produced tens of thousands of images that form a wonderful record of the great era of the passenger liner. They tell an evocative story of the vanished world of elegant ships and leisurely travel, and of political and social times muched changed by the history of the past century. Here bought vividly to lilfe in more than 500 colourful postcards, are the liners in which so many of our predecessors sailed, as emigrants, soldiers or administrators ini distant lands, or simply as tourists. These cards - now highly collectible - show how the ships developed over the years, and are also a fine tribute to the artists who painted them. A glossary of some 170 illustrators forms an important reference section in the book, and advice on collecting is also included.