Rare & Important Travel Posters

Swann Auction Galleries Sale #2755: This year’s sale is a treasury of images from around the world, featuring all modes of transportation.

The auction highlights works that are seldom seen, scarce and simply lovely to behold. Whether they are promoting railways, airlines or ocean liner companies, these posters represent the most desirable examples within the genre.

Most exceptional this year is the variety of A-list destinations. These include Chicago, circa 1929, by Paul Proehl for the Illinois Central Railroad; and the same artist's exceptional golfing image for the Beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast; Venice, 1951, by A.M. Cassandre; Chester, circa 1920, by William Russel Flint; and The Italian Riviera, circa 1920, Mario Borgoni. Other travel and vacation hotspots include Las Vegas, California, New England, Mont Blanc, India, Canada, Tunisia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Russia and Australia, to name but a few.

The auction also includes something we have never seen before, let alone had the privilege to offer: a three-dimensional 1930s countertop display for the New York Central Lines streamlined Commodore Vanderbilt train. This cardboard advertisement is even less likely to have survived the last century than most of the posters we offer, making a scarce and glorious object truly something special.