Ship Posters: Voyages in the Mediterranean and Across the Oceans, 19th and 20th Centuries

Based on a very rich and impressive selection of 19th and 20th century ship posters from Europe, the book explores in the accompanying fascinating essays three very different types of shipping and sea voyages: a) coastal shipping for the transportation of passengers and freight in the wider Mediterranean, b) steamshipping across the oceans for the European mass migration to the USA, Canada, Latin America and Australia, and c) cruise shipping in the Mediterranean for tourism and recreation. All texts, including an extensive introduction by the editor, are written by Greek historians specializing in maritime history. After thourough research, the posters included were selected from major German, French, Austrian, Swiss, Italian as well as American and Greek public and private collections. A total of 300, reproduced beautifully, they help the reader to follow the narratives and imagine vividly the facts and stories told. Originally, of course, the posters aimed to attract the public to a safe - and in some cases magical - voyage to unknown destinations. This original bilingual edition (English and Greek) offers original and fascinating material on who, how and for what purpose people crossed the Mediterranean and the oceans in the past two centuries. It sheds light to the Greek experience in particular and focuses on the significant contribution of Greek shipping companies to sea travelling.