A Collection of Original Art deco Luggage Labels.

Various British and Continental locales. c. 1934. Collection is comprised of 108 original, splendidly Deco coloured labels, from only the finest of Establishments. 50 pgs. Oblong 4to. 10" x 13". Labels range in size between 16" and 3" - the great majority of pieces being of the larger format. Attractively encased by a faux-alligator skin covered ringed custom notebook. Labels permanently mounted to acetate protected boards.

The Golden Age of Travel occurred between 1890 and the outbreak of World War II. During this time elegant hotels abounded and the various modes of transport reached their glorious apogee. The labels, which were placed on luggage by railroads, steamships or hotels beautifully captured the spirit of the era. In this Golden Age, Luggage became a history of travels, their accumulation documenting a traveller's taste as well as the places seen, the transportation used and the hotels visited. The battered, overlaid and randomly applied labels achieved a cumulative personality. Luggage became the owner's extended travel history, evoking afternoons in London, frosty nights in the Alps, or a tour of the glamorous French Riviera. What began as simple informative pieces of paper attached to baggage to inform handlers of a destination or other instructions, soon evolved into superb works advertising art. These elegant labels which adorned the portmanteaus of the well traveled are time capsules unearthed , each evoking a distant noir place and chromioum time. A superb and most desireable collection.

Several plates present diagonal offset from previous mounting. They do not distract in any significant way from the crisp, bright and striking original condition of this gathering.

Item #8695

Price: $3,000.00