NEW YORK, NY.- On Thursday, November 8 Swann Galleries will conduct their annual auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters, which offers some of the finest examples of travel images from around the world.

A dazzling assortment of French Art Deco posters features a run of works by A.M. Cassandre, among them the iconic Nord Express, 1927, his graphic glorification of the machine age ($15,000 to $20,000); L.M.S. Best Way, 1928, made for the British railway, but likely not used commercially, as only 50 copies were printed ($70,000 to $100,000); and his masterful Côte d’Azur, 1931, the last image from his “chimney series” of ocean liner posters focusing on individual design components of the ship—in this case the funnel—before he began depicting ships as a whole ($15,000 to $20,000). There’s also Jean Carlu’s Grandes Fêtes de Paris, 1934, a horizontal-format image with a softer Cubist theme than was his trademark ($12,000 to $18,000).

Among American beauties are a rare, early poster for travel to Southern California Via Union Pacific Steam by M. Gundlach, circa 1920 ($8,000 to $12,000); three of Edward Eggleston’s luminous images of young ladies enjoying the resort town of Atlantic City / Pennsylvania Railroad, circa 1935 ($10,000 to $15,000 each) as well as his smart-dressed female traveler to Washington / The City Beautiful ($3,000 to $4,000).

A selection of posters promoting the 1939 New York World’s Fair includes Leslie Ragan’s design for the New York Central System ($4,000 to $6,000); Sascha Maurer’s for Pennsylvania Railroad ($3,000 to $4,000); Nembhard N. Culin’s In 1939 / The New York World’s Fair, 1937 ($2,500 to $3,500); and Joseph Binder’s New York World’s Fair, 1939 ($1,000 to $1,500).

Also from the New York area are Ragan’s The New 20th Century Limited, 1939, The New Empire State Express / New York Central System, 1941 ($6,000 to $9,000 each) and New York / The Upper Bay from Lower Manhattan, 1935 ($5,000 to $7,500); as well as Walter L. Greene’s Adirondack Mountains / Lake Placid / New York Central Lines, circa 1935 ($6,000 to $9,000); and two posters for the Palisades Amusement Park, circa 1937 and circa 1946 ($1,200 to $1,800 and $1,500 to $2,000).

There is also an exceedingly scarce Leslie Ragan gouache maquette for a poster advertising Cincinnati, circa 1935, which may never have resulted in a printed piece ($5,000 to $7,500). Another original work of art in the sale is a tempera on board painting by Sam Hyde Harris, Only Southern Pacific Trains Show You the Coast Line, circa 1937 ($5,000 to $7,500)—a poster by the same artist, Southern Pacific’s New Daylight, 1937, is also featured ($3,000 to $4,000).

Midwestern highlights are a 1911 poster for International Aviation Meet / Grant Park / Chicago ($3,000 to $4,000); Willard Frederic Elmes’s Golf by the North Shore Line, a gouache maquette used to create lithographic stones for printing, circa 1923 ($8,000 to $12,000); Oscar Rabe Hanson’s Polo / By the North Shore Line, 1923 ($4,000 to $6,000); Ervine Metzl’s Evanston Lighthouse / By the Elevated Lines, 1923 and Raymond Huelster’s Outward Bound / By South Shore Line, 1929 ($3,000 to $4,000 each).

Powerful ocean liner images include Montague Birrel Black’s White Star Line / Olympic & Titanic, circa 1910 ($5,000 to $7,500); Ottomar Anton’s Nach New York und San Francisco / American Line, circa 1925 ($3,000 to $4,000); LMS Express & Cunard Liner, featuring the “Aquitania,” circa 1920 ($4,000 to $6,000); Willem Frederick Ten Broek’s Holland – America Line, 1936 ($5,000 to $7,500); Adriaan Joh. Van’t Hoff’s Holland America Line, 1928 ($3,000 to $4,000); and Percy Angelo Staynes’s Canadian Pacific / Duchess Steamships, circa 1929 ($2,500 to $3,500).

Eastern European and Soviet selections include Max Litwak and Robert Fedor’s Besuchet / USSR, 1930 ($4,000 to $6,000); Soviet Armenia, circa 1935 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Zdenek Rykr’s Praha, circa 1935 ($800 to $1,200).

A select group of Paul George Lawler’s Pan American ads for travel to far-flung destinations includes Mexico Tomorrow, circa 1940 ($1,200 to $1,800); Wings to Europe, circa 1939 ($4,000 to $6,000); Flying Down to Rio, circa 1938 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Fly to the South Sea Isles, circa 1938 ($8,000 to $12,000).
Other posters for exotic locales are Munetsugu Satomi’s Orient Calls, Tokyo, 1936 ($3,000 to $4,000); M. Eyre Proudman’s See India / Jodhpur, 1934 ($1,200 to $1,800); Percy Trompf’s Australia / The Tallest Trees in the British Empire, circa 1935 ($1,500 to $2,000); and Jacques Majorelle’s Le Maroc, 1923 and Tanger / Son Site / Son Climat, 1924 ($3,000 to $4,000 each).

The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 8.

The posters will be on public exhibition on Saturday, November 3, from noon to 5 p.m.; Monday, November 5 to Wednesday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, November 8, from 10 a.m. to noon.

Swann will host a special event in conjunction with the SS United States Conservancy and Redevelopment Project on Friday, November 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. Please join us for a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the SS United States and a discussion of efforts to repurpose the ship as a mixed-use attraction including a new Museum of American Design and Discovery.