Ocean Liner Postcards in Marine Art 1900-1945 [Hardcover]

Robert Wall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 1998

This is the first serious study of these cards which combine artistic and maritime interest in their depiction of a vanished era. A concise history of the picture postcard is followed by practical notes for collectors - how to collect. what to look for - and a list of the major firms engaged in shipping publishing. The history of the passenger liner is traced from the days of Brunel to after the Second World War. Two hundred artists' postcards from the author's comprehensive collection illustrate in full colour the ships plying the 'Blue Riband' routes and sailing to Canada, the South Atlantic, India, the Indies. Australasia and the Far East. Famous names like Lusitania, Mauretania and Titanic are illustrated here alongside other less well-known vessels recalling bygone days of leisured and luxury travel, many of them lost in disasters or in the service of their countries in the two world wars. A good, colourful artist's impression of a big liner is far more attractive than a dull photographic c

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Antique Collectors Club Dist (August 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851492755
• ISBN-13: 978-1851492756
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,636,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very British Book, May 2, 2001

By 

Allen Whipple (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ocean Liner Postcards in Marine Art 1900-1945 (Hardcover)

This book could have been written in 1925. It is a model of its kind: well-organized, quite literate, and with very valuable details, appendices, and a good index. There are lists of publishers, timelines, and most important, Artists -- and that list indexes the particular card(s) in the text. Further, in this little book there is a capsule history of passenger shipping from 1837 to 1950 --and it is a far better-written, more lucid and more informative narrative than most of what passes for history these days in larger size picture-books. If you read this book you will have taken a giant step toward being a serious collector.

That said, there are drawbacks as well as virtues in this little book's Britishness. Most of all, it concentrates almost entirely on British shipping, with perfunctory nods to the Germans (lightly represented), the French (hardly represented at all), or the (completely ignored) Dutch, Swedish, Italians, and Americans. And despite the virtuosity of the artists represented there is a certain sameness about the examples.

That really didn't bother me. This is a beautiful little book about a wonderful little subject. If it takes no note of the sleeker, more stylized Art Nouveau or Deco styles popular on "the Continent," it does give a very good exposition of the realistic yet painterly artists, many of whom (Wyllie, Dixon and Shoesmith for example) were superb draftsmen as well as painters --talents sorely needed, then and now.

I only hope Mr. Wall will tackle the other countries in another volume -- and I will rush to buy it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique must for ocean liner buffs, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ocean Liner Postcards in Marine Art 1900-1945 (Hardcover)

August `99 OCEAN LINER POSTCARDS IN MARINE ART 1900-1945 is a very attractive, nicely produced little handbook (the first of its kind) aimed chiefly at ocean-liner buffs, for whom it will surely be a must-buy. The book may also be of interest to those who recall the age of ocean liners and perhaps even sailed on them. The reproductions of more than 200 color post cards of passenger ships are surprisingly good, as are many of the paintings themselves. For some reason, artists - even marine artists - often have difficulty in representing ships in a way that is anatomically accurate, as it were: the perspective may be off, the stacks too high, the hulls to large and looming. Not to worry: most of the paintings commissioned for post cards - which after all were marketing vehicles - are imbued with an irresistible romantic aura that overcomes all defects. Regrettably, the information about the ships depicted in this nifty book is quite sketchy and the text, which presents short histories of the lines involved, is rather dry.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ocean Liner Postcards in Marine Art., August 17, 2002

By 

terry dickens - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ocean Liner Postcards in Marine Art 1900-1945 (Hardcover)

I echo the opinions of the first reviewer`s comments if not his star rating.As a British collector of Liner postcards I probably am biased towards it`s "Britishness" but it is unquestionably the best [and admittedly the only]book on this subject available.Look,love Liners- like lots!