An original Italian travel poster promoting Trento, located in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northern Italy. Issued in 1925 and printed by Chappuis in Bologna for the ENIT (Italian State Tourist Office), the poster reflects the period’s effort to encourage tourism and cultural pride in the region, which had only recently been annexed to Italy after World War I.
The design features the prominent statue of Dante Alighieri, set against the architectural backdrop of Trento’s historic center. Dante’s presence underscores the Italian cultural identity of the region, while the clean composition and modernist typography exemplify the graphic style of Italian railway and ENIT promotional art of the 1920s.
This stone lithograph measures 27.5 × 39 inches and has been professionally mounted on linen. It is preserved in excellent A condition, with bright colors and strong presentation. A striking and historically significant piece of Italian travel advertising.
⸻
Title: Trento
Artist: Anonymous
Date: 1925
Printer: Chappuis, Bologna
Size: 27.5 × 39 in. / 70 × 100 cm
Print Technique: Stone lithograph
On Linen: Yes
Condition: Excellent “A”
Comments: Issued by ENIT (Italian Tourist Office) to promote travel to Trento in the mid-1920s. Features the Dante Alighieri statue, symbolizing the region’s Italian cultural identity after World War I. Linen-backed and well preserved.
Roma Mercato di Traiano by Vittorio Grassi 1925 RARE
Artist: Grassi, Vittorio Printer: Enit Size: 27.5 x 39 in / 70 x 100 cm On/Off Linen: Delay approx 2 weeks to linen-back before delivery Print Technique: Lithograph Year: 1925 Condition & Comments: Nice condition with slight restoration
Original Authentic poster for travel to Rome with a view on the ancient Roman Marketplace. Poster created for the Enit of Italian Railways with artwork by Vittorio Grassi in 1925. RARE
Artist: Grassi, Vittorio Printer: Enit Size: 26 x 39 ” / 66 x 100 cm On/Off Linen: Delay approx 2 weeks to linen-back before delivery Print Technique: lithograph Year: 1926 Condition & Comments: Excellent
Original Authentic poster for travel to Assisi with a view on to the Basilica of Santa Maria. Poster created for the Enit of Italian Railways 1926. RARE
Original 1926 Italian travel poster promoting Cattolica, the celebrated Adriatic seaside resort near Rimini and San Marino. Designed by Livio Apolloni (1906–1976), an Italian poster artist, painter and illustrator who began creating tourism advertising for ENIT and the Italian State Railways during this period.
The poster presents a wonderfully evocative view of fashionable 1920s beach life, with colorful bathing cabins and bungalows connected by wooden walkways across the sand. A stylish boat-tail automobile arriving at one of the beach houses provides a particularly appealing period detail, capturing the growing popularity of automobile travel and seaside holidays in Italy during the 1920s.
Apolloni’s elevated perspective, strong geometric composition and vivid palette beautifully convey the elegance and optimism of Italy’s Adriatic resorts between the wars. Printed by Novissima in Rome, this is a rare and highly decorative original Italian tourism poster, professionally backed on linen and retaining excellent color and detail.
Artist: Livio Apolloni (1906–1976)
Printer: Novissima, Roma
Size: 27.5 x 39 inches / 70 x 99 cm
Linen: On linen
Technique: Chromolithography
Year: 1926
Condition: Excellent A
Marseille–Alexandrie – La Route d’Égypte – J. Daviel – 1924
Rare original French travel poster designed by J. Daviel for the PLM railway and Messageries Maritimes, promoting the celebrated route from Paris and Marseille to Alexandria, Egypt. The poster brilliantly combines the two great forms of luxury travel of the period—the railway and the ocean liner—in a single dramatic image.
A monumental Egyptian pharaoh dominates the composition, holding a PLM locomotive in one hand and a Messageries Maritimes steamship in the other. Behind him, a map of the Mediterranean links Marseille with Alexandria, visually presenting the complete journey from France to Egypt.
Travelers could leave Paris aboard the PLM railway for Marseille, with luxury trains offering sleeping cars and couchettes for the overnight journey south. At Marseille they transferred to the steamships of Messageries Maritimes for the Mediterranean crossing to Alexandria. This coordinated train-and-ship journey was promoted as the “Route d’Égypte,” combining comfort, speed and the romance of international travel during the golden age of rail and ocean liners.
The design also reflects the extraordinary fascination with ancient Egypt that swept Europe following the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. Daviel cleverly juxtaposes the ancient pharaoh with the most modern forms of transportation—the locomotive and steamship—creating a particularly memorable image of travel to Egypt.
Joseph Daviel de la Nézière was himself a widely traveled French artist whose experiences in North Africa and the Middle East influenced a number of his travel designs.
A rare and historically fascinating original French travel poster from the golden age of luxury rail and ocean travel, professionally backed on linen and preserved in excellent condition.
Artist: J. Daviel (Joseph Daviel de la Nézière)
Printer: PLM, Paris
Size: 30 x 40 inches / 76.2 x 101.6 cm
Linen: On linen
Technique: Lithography
Year: 1924
Condition: Excellent A
This original French travel poster was commissioned by the PLM Railways (Paris–Lyon–Méditerranée) to promote travel to La Mure, a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France.
The composition uses strong, vibrant color, dominated by yellow and blue tones. The town of La Mure is depicted in an en plein air style, emphasizing light and atmosphere rather than strict architectural detail. The lower portion of the poster is divided into two scenic vignettes: at left, Les Lacs, featuring a statue of a man on horseback set within a mountainous landscape; at right, the Chemins de Fer Électrique de La Mure, illustrating the region’s electric railway line and its dramatic route through the terrain.
The poster reflects the PLM’s broader effort during the interwar period to promote regional tourism by combining landscape, infrastructure, and cultural landmarks within a single image. It is a representative example of French railway advertising from the late 1920s.
⸻
Details
Title: La Mure d’Isere – PLM
Artist: Oraim
Date: 1928
Size: 25.5 × 39 inches
Linen backed: Yes
Comments: Original French travel poster. Linen backed. Excellent condition with strong color and well-preserved printing. Ready to frame.
TROUPES COLONIALES — JEUNES GENS… ALLEZ AUX COLONIES — c.1927
French recruitment poster issued by the Ministere de la Guerre encouraging young men to enlist in the Troupes Coloniales. The design combines the French colonial emblem with scenes representing colonial territories and activity, including agricultural work with a tractor, laborers in the fields, figures in North African dress with a camel, a mounted soldier, and a harbor scene. The poster outlines different forms of enlistment and service in the colonies and promotes travel, employment, and advancement through colonial military service.
Artist: Anon
Printer: Imprimerie Nationale, Paris
Size: 31 x 47 inches / 80 x 120 cm
On / Off Linen: On linen
Print Technique: Lithograph
Year: c.1927
Condition & Comments: Excellent condition. Rare.
This World War I poster by Lucien Jonas was created for the Compagnie Algérienne to encourage subscriptions to an Emprunt, or war bond, supporting the French war effort. Jonas depicts a soldier of the Troupes Coloniales bidding farewell to his family before leaving for the front—an image meant to highlight both sacrifice and duty. These troops were recruited from France’s North African colonies and fought alongside the poilus (French infantrymen). Issued in Paris by Devambez, this is a strong and emotional example of Jonas’ wartime propaganda work, printed in 1917 at the height of the conflict.
Details
Artist: Jonas, Lucien
Printer: Devambez, Paris
Size: 31 x 47 in / 80 x 120 cm
On/Off Linen: On linen (perfect)
Print Technique: Lithograph
Year: c.1917
Condition & Comments: Excellent. Original WWI poster promoting a Compagnie Algérienne war loan, featuring a Colonial soldier and his family.
Original French poster issued for the postwar reconstruction loan, L’Emprunt de la Paix, encouraging citizens to subscribe to bonds financing the rebuilding of France after the First World War. The composition by Henry Lebasque contrasts a peaceful domestic scene in the foreground with workers, construction activity, factories, and smoke rising from industrial plants in the background. The family scene with the mother and child symbolizes the future generations of France, while the rebuilding and industrial landscape represents national recovery and reconstruction.
Henry Lebasque was an established French painter associated with Post-Impressionism and closely connected to the circle of artists around Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. Like a number of prominent artists of the period, he contributed designs for public campaigns following the war. Posters such as this were part of a broader national effort encouraging citizens to invest in government bonds to finance rebuilding and economic recovery.
Artist: Lebasque, Henry
Printer: Imp. Maquet, Paris
Size: 31 x 47 inches / 80 x 120 cm
On / Off Linen: On linen
Print Technique: Lithograph
Year: c.1920
Condition & Comments: Excellent condition.
